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Cibola International ™
Power Lines as Psuedo-Yagi RF Director Elements
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be addressed to:
John Melendez
Cibola International ™
http://www.emailmeform.com/fid.php?formid=19595
.............................................................................................................................................2
Hamming It Up In the Countryside.....................................................................................3
Countryside "Quiet".............................................................................................................3
"Curious" RF Intensity.........................................................................................................3
Singled Out: Power Lines....................................................................................................3
Power Lines: Friend or Foe?................................................................................................4
Power Lines as the Foe........................................................................................................4
“Friendly” Power Lines?......................................................................................................4
Reflector? Pseudo-Yagi? Parasite Element?......................................................................5
And Yes, It’s Directional.....................................................................................................5
Any Comments?...................................................................................................................6
While it doesn't hurt to have a high quality "rig" (radio) to send and receive signals, it
may not take long to realize that - despite having a fair or even poor quality transceiver -
one can do pretty well by having a superior antenna. In my recent experiments at home,
I've tried various home-crafted antennas including balanced dipoles, long wires, and
some "home-base" automotive antennas.
In this accounting of my recent experience, I suggest I may be using one of the largest
antennas in the world!
Countryside "Quiet"
When I get to yearnin' for some travel, nothing beats hopping into the car and going for
a short road trip. As a ham radio operator the idea behind this is to "be in the clear". By
leaving the city, most radios experience significantly reduced splatter, static and other
spuriously generated noise common to the big city.
The countryside is not only relatively quiet to the human ears, but also on a radio's
antenna.
"Curious" RF Intensity
On recent trips into the countryside I have noticed that RF gain seems to hike up a
notch or two while driving in certain locations at any given time.
At first I attributed this to signal drift one may experience on certain days when there are
many factors which could cause a signal to rise and fall in amplitude. However, more
often than not I started to see that RF gain in certain places seemed to hold steady in
spite of whatever factors were afoot. Whether cloudy or clear, windy or still, signal gain
seemed to spring up only in certain places as I drove by.
was only one common factor: relatively open flat space. The key word here is
“relatively”.
I was puzzled at first. With the absence of mountains (or even hills) - through whose
saddles and canyons a line-of-sight signal could gallop through - what could possibly
make this open piece of land so popular for signal propagation? Upon some further
observation and thinking, it seems I have run across the answer…
Perched like vultures atop an otherwise serene countryside or rural landscape, power
lines provide the lifeblood which keep the common American household afloat. Aside
from this, we all know that many businesses (including industry) use enormous amounts
of electrical energy transmitted across these gigantic buzzing wire traps.
But alongside the seemingly harmless activity of providing power to granny’s electric
stove, power lines wage a silent war against amateur radio operators. Ham radio buffs -
both at home and operating from a mobile (car or on foot) station – pick up powerful and
annoyingly loud interference from these power lines. This static noise frequently “walks
over” incoming radio signals on the amateur bands, and thus keeps the intended
receiver of these signals from ever hearing the message. Needless to say, power lines
and the noise they produce are considered the enemy of amateur radio operators.
However, before categorically banishing all power lines off into the nether realms of RF
hell, I seem to have run across a few good apples within the spoiled stock.
For each location where signal strength seemed to rise across the band, I noticed that
the power lines in nearby high-tension line structures were consistently very nearly
aligned with each other and my location on the ground. For power line structures of
varying designs, I found that signal strength seemed to rise consistently when
positioning my mobile radio unit at certain angles of incidence from the power lines.
Certain structures seem to propagate RF better at certain angles, while other structures
seemed to cause a spike in signal power at other angles, or when their power lines
were aligned with my mobile antenna. All of these power lines did this more or less
consistently, depending upon their common design.
Upon seeing this, I am led to believe that these power lines have in some way become
“friendly” to certain signal propogation.
Hypothesizing beyond this argument, I am prone to asking, “How are these friendly
power lines helping me with my signal propagation?”
The first idea that comes to mind is that these power lines are serving as reflectors of
signals coming from specific directions. By extension, and in placing this kind of signal
directionality into words that many amateur radio antenna buffs understand, I propose
the idea that signals are being either bounced or redirected off the multiple power lines
toward my mobile antenna in a fashion rather similar to that seen with Yagi antennas.
Again, in all fairness to those folks who like to argue: No, technically the system I am
describing is not a true Yagi - a single-system antenna composed of an intentionally
spaced series of dipole-like elements designed to hike up RF gain from certain
directions. However, for the sake of drawing a hopeful corollary, I am prone to liking this
“massive Yagi” idea even more every time I think about it.
The idea here is to look upon the special positioning of the power lines as the “parasitic”
elements of a Yagi antenna which direct RF for several hundred yards to the “driven”
element (my mobile antenna) of this massive antenna system.
Too bad I can't mount those massive lines on a rotor and turn them to selected
directions!
Random thought: Perhaps I am using the largest known “pseudo-Yagi element” system
in the world! For the sake of humility, I will pass this off and not lay claim to any world
records.
Any Comments?
While I haven't attempted to take measurements using sophisticated equipment or
analysis with computer modeling, I like the idea of attributing the rise in RF reception to
the “massive Yagi” hypothesis I have described above.
However, in all fairness I'm open to discussion and other suggestions which you may
have which would explain the rise in RF propagation I have witnessed. Please feel free
to direct comments at the link at the bottom of this page.
73s!