John,

Don't I recognize your name from the "Good Old Days" in either NASWA, NRC, Fine Tuning or some such??? My problem is that I'm so old that there are too durn many Good Old Days :>)

I know what you mean about noise, though I am fortunate to live in a fairly noise-free environment right now. You, in the townhouse, and the E100 are excellent candidates for a couple of strategies in the Unlimited Class of Ultralighting.  First and easiest would be using a small air core loop inductively coupled to the E100: Something like the Terk or the Select-a-Tenna.  That route might give you a better S/N ratio plus a better chance to null at least some of the noise.  Kevin Schanilec has written a fairly advanced article on using such small loops in the last 6 weeks... a wonderful article that has been published in several of the club bulletins.  Kevin will be putting that article up on our Ultralight Files area on dxer.ca in the next few days.  He is also writing a more basic (near beginners') article that should be out soon.

The second route would be to turn your E100 into what will soon be a classic Unlimited set: the "Slider E100."  That amounts to transplanting a 7.5"x.5" Type 61 Amidon ferrite bar and sliding tuning coil onto the E100.  A brief look at how to do that is covered in one chapter of the four part series of short articles on hotrodding the E100 by Gary DeBock, Guy Atkins and me.  We are all so convinced that the Slider mod is the number one way to hotrod an Ultralight that Gary and I have spent quite a bit of time putting together an expanded step-by-step article (7 pages!) called "YOU CAN DO THIS! More About Building the Slider E100." We are flabbergasted that so few people seem interested (so far) in this wonderfully simple (two screws, two solder joints!) and relatively inexpensive mod (under $30).  The Slider mod. turns the already great E100 into a flat out DX Demon!

So, the second way to go might well be turning the E100 into a Slider version.. especially with the outboard antenna mod, too. That would allow you to use the full range of tricks to beat the urban signal to noise radio.... including two room-size single turn vertically-oriented loops (around the walls) that could even be phased together before insertion into the Slider E100.

If you get the idea that I'm running my own hobby with one eye firmly on the day when I, too, may be in a townhouse, you would be exactly right :>) Anyway, that YOU CAN DO THIS article will be announced and posted on the dxer.ca website soon.

So, John, keep us up on how you are doing with the E100 and don't forget about the Awards program (look on DXer.ca for details) and, if you are so inclined the FALL FOLLIES, which start tomorrow.

Best Regards,

John B.
Orcas Island, WA, USA
Rcvrs: WiNRADiO 313e, Eton e1, Slider E100
Antennas: Wellbrook Phased Array NW
Two 70' x 100' Conti Super Loops, West and Northwest




At 09:17 AM 10/23/2008 -0500, you wrote: