Körner 9.2 Installed at the new QTH!

It took two months to get there, but I finally got the Körner 9.2 antenna on the roof at the new QTH. It has actually been installed for about two weeks now so I can give a better overall assessment of general reception.

To recap. We moved to a new bungalow almost three months ago, where getting permission should have been simpler, in theory. In reality it became rather complicated but we got there in the end.

So how is reception? Is it any different at the new QTH? Is the FM band any noisier?

"Yes" and "No" are the respective answers. Reception is actually better (I had expected it to be no different), though I don't think any of us escape the noise levels completely these days. I haven't. There is a slight noise to the south when horizontal, but it's not a major problems. It varies in strength too. It sounds like nothing I have heard before. It is a 50Hz hum for about 15 minutes and then it becomes white noise. At 10dB it is not going to be a major problem, though I have occasionally seen it up to 20dB and has been known to come in on different bearings. I am fully aware things can change at any moment, such is the level of 'borrowed time' we are all living on regarding noise levels.



Reception to the east is surprisingly good. I now have regular daily scatter from German transmitters like Heidelstein, Kreuzberg-Rhon, Brocken, Torfhaus, Inselberg and Hoher Meissner, all delivered daily on tap! Their signal strengths vary from non-existent to noise free (if I am lucky). Many other less common German transmitters are audible on a daily basis too such as Saarburg, Bad Marienburg, Donnersberg and Bielefeld. The nearer transmitters like Langenberg, Aachen, Munster, Bonn, Gottelborner Hohe, Kleve and Barbelkreuz peak to noise free levels and can reach PI code level on a good day via scatter. Even local stations in Nordrhein-Westfalen are creeping through on good days. I have so far identified 105.2 Radio RST, Schoppingen, 106.9 Radio Euskirchen, 107.4 Radio Wuppertal, Wuppertal via scatter. Naturally, these signals are very weak.

To the north-east, I hear Lingen, Aurich, Bremen, etc. almost constantly, plus occasional scatter from Rangstrup in Denmark and even Bjerkreim in south-west Norway. Heide and Flensburg flutter up and down occasionally too, very weakly.

Reception to the south is disappointing, however. I cannot explain this. The 9.2 'sees' a reasonable take-off in all directions. I can still receive Kippure, Mount Leinster and Clermont Carn on an almost daily basis, but northern transmitters like Caen and Rouen struggle. Brest can be OK at times, but moving to more distant transmitters such as Troyes and Bourges and I struggle. Some you win, some you lose.

Reception inland is worse too, which is good thing as far as I am concerned. But the FM band is more solid with continental transmitters from Holland and Belgium. This is nice but some of them are now frequency blockers for more distant transmitters.

Overall, I am very happy with the situation, but while some DXers say I am very lucky to be able to receive so many continental transmitters, you have to remember that many of them are now my 'locals' in a sense and can actually be a nuisance.