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Thanks, Bruce.

 

The main question for west coast TP (and DU) chasers is whether or not the ocean cliff sites provide enough of a propagation boost to enable very small-footprint antennas like the FSL's (and Mark's micro-Superloop) to outperform much larger antennas at sea level (like the DKAZ, Flag, Superloop and beverages) in weak-signal transoceanic DX reception. There really isn't any reason for Perseus-SDR DXers to spend the time and $$ to develop effective Broadband FSL's (and face the challenges of cliff-side DXing) if they can enjoy the same (or superior) DXing results with their larger antennas at sea level beaches.

 

The concurrent DU-DXpeditions on the Oregon coast last July provided the first solid evidence that ocean cliff-sited Tunable FSL's could indeed outperform large single-loop wire antennas at sea level, at least on the low-band frequencies (this fact was agreed upon in private correspondence among the participants, after the DXpeditions). Unfortunately the current Broadband FSL models have nowhere near the DXing sensitivity of the Tunable FSL models, which can optimize one single frequency to work well with Ultralight radios, but not with the Perseus-SDR receivers (in their typical spectrum-capture mode). Consequently there is interest among the Perseus-SDR users in the FSL antenna's potential, but somewhat of a "wait-and-see" attitude to see if a Broadband FSL model can be developed which will provide a transoceanic DXing breakthrough at the ocean cliff sites (like the Tunable FSL's appear to have already done, at least on the low band frequencies). The main question at this point is whether or not such a Broadband FSL antenna is technically feasible, and if so, who will devote the necessary time and resources to develop it.

 

73, Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA)