BOG (Beverage On the Ground) Report
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Jim Glover KX0U
I tried out a BOG (Beverage On the Ground) on the MW BCB band for the
first time today. Here are some of the details and results.
Before I got started: To get some idea how I set things up,
you may want to look over my general BOG page.
What I did after setup: I put the transceiver up on the dashboard, and began
tuning around, logging the stations I received, their signal strength,
and their readability. After I went once through the list, I went back,
and started trying to ID the ones that weren't locals. After I'd ID'ed
a few of them, I started checking to see if I could hear the stations I
heard on the transceiver, on the car radio. Partway through that process,
I accidentally tuned slightly below the BCB, and heard a beacon. So,
I paused to see how many beacons I could log before moving on. Then,
I finished seeing how many of the stations I could hear on the car radio,
spooled the wire back up, finished packing up, went about half-way through
the band confirming I could still hear all the stations on the car radio,
even after I'd rolled up the wire (yep), then headed home.
Time of Day: I got started around 4:00 PM, and left by 6:00 PM.
Local sunset was at 7:21 PM.
My Location: Oklahoma City (I was at Eldon Lyon Park.)
Antenna Orientation: East/West
Here are some of my observations and reactions:
-
I was able to receive a lot of stations. In fact, I was getting
pretty excited about how much I was hearing. It's certainly more than
I've been able to copy at home, with an indoor wire, or the multi-band
90-something foot dipole I used to have just barely above roof level.
-
I wasn't so excited after I realized that almost every station I
was getting on the BOG I could also hear, just about as well, on the
car radio. There were some exceptions, and a couple of cases where
the station I was receiving on some frequency on the car radio was
different from the one I was receiving on the BOG. There were also some
stations I could hear on the car radio, that I couldn't hear on the BOG.
(I like my car radio. I really do.)
-
I was very surprised to see that some of the stations I ID'ed were in
Texas, almost due perpendicular to the BOG. So I guess the directional
virtues of the BOG are not as pronounced as I'd heard. Actually, I
can't imagine why a BOG, as I've typically heard them described, should
be directional on the MW BCB. A normal Beverage antenna is directional
because it is multiple wavelengths long, and a 500' BOG is well under
one wavelength long at the lower end of the BCB.
Even up at the high end (where I was receiving one of the TX stations
off the side) it's less than two wavelengths long. I'd imagine the
highly directional properties people attribute to these kick in up
around the higher end of their useful range, and/or at longer lengths.
-
Signal levels were generally low. Some of the locals were only about
S9, and many of the weaker stations were S-zero.
-
I discovered that I could dramatically increase signal levels by
placing my hand on the top panel of the transceiver. S-zero signals would
typically increase to about S9, and there would be a noticeable (not huge)
improvement in S/N.
-
I thought I was well within daylight, and thus, firmly in "daytime"
reception mode. And yet, I noticed some fading on a very small minority
of the signals. (Most were rock steady, as I would have expected.) In a
couple of cases, the fading was deep. In one case, I was listening to
a station on the car radio and transceiver at the same time, and the signal
faded on one, but not the other, then vice versa.
-
For a portable antenna that's not hard to deploy, the BOG works pretty
well. On the other hand, my car radio, with its standard fender-mounted
whip, does just about as well. But then, I don't know how I can easily
duplicate the few-thousand-pound ground plane. In the end, perhaps it's
more about location than antenna, anyway.
Here are some ideas to think about for future tests:
-
I'm going to need a lot more time to ID all those weak stations.
-
I'm going to try connecting the car body ground to the radio's antenna
jack (PL-259 and a cigarette lighter plug would make this one easy).
Thanks to Dave AA1JM for this excellent idea. I wondered if I were,
electrically speaking, doing about that same thing when I'd put my
hand on the case and notice improved signal strength.
-
Next time, I'll try a North/South layout, and see how all those TX
stations come in.
You will need to know that I use my own signal readability rating system:
- F
- not readable (or mostly not readable)
- D
- (Mostly?) readable, but just barely
- C
- Readable, but noisy
- B
- A little noise
- A
- (At least reasonably close to) perfect
Here are some of the particulars about the stations I received.
(I'm not mentioning the obvious locals.)
MW BCB Stations Heard |
Frequency | Station | Signal Strength | Readability | Time | Programming Notes | Comments |
540 | UNID | 0 | D | 1608 | SS | |
550 | UNID | 0 | F | 1608 | | Actually two stations mixed together |
570 | UNID | 0 | D | 1609 | talk | |
580 | UNID | 0 | F | 1610 | talk | Car radio was receiving a different
station on 580 |
620 | UNID | 0 | D- | 1610 | music | |
660 | KSKY (Dallas/Ft. Worth) | 0 | D | 1613 | talk | Car radio did not
receive this one |
690 | UNID | 0 | D+ | 1614 | game | Mentioned "Wildcats", "Kansas State" |
710 | KGNC (Amarillo, TX) | 0 | C | 1615 | sports talk | |
740 | UNID | 8 | B+ | 1616 | talk | |
780 | UNID | 0 | D+ | 1617 | sports talk | |
960 | UNID | 5 | C | 1622 | talk | Have logged KGWA in Enid, OK here before |
970 | UNID | 0 | D | 1623 | sports talk | |
1020 | UNID | 0 | D+ | 1625 | sports talk | |
1030 | UNID | 5 | B | 1749 | financial talk | |
1050 | UNID | 0 | F | 1750 | | This is the station that faded separately
on car radio |
1170 | KFAQ (Tulsa, OK) | 5 | C+ | 1630 | | |
1240 | UNID | 0 | D | 1635 | sports talk | |
1270 | UNID | 0 | F | 1636 | sports talk | |
1320 | UNID | 6 | C | 1639 | financial talk | |
1340 | UNID | 9 | A | 1640 | sports talk | |
1380 | UNID | 0 | D | 1641 | sports talk | |
1390 | UNID | 0 | D | 1642 | game | (Multiple stations audible) |
1420 | UNID | 5 | B | 1714 | sports talk | Discussing Cowboys/Grambling
game |
1440 | UNID | 7 | B | 1646 | SS music | |
1480 | UNID | 0 | F | 1648 | SS | |
1490 | UNID | 6 | C | 1648 | religion | |
1530 | UNID | 0 | F | 1651 | | |
1590 | UNID | 0 | D | 1653 | | |
1600 | UNID | 3 | B | 1654 | talk in some Asian language | |
1630 | UNID | 0 | D | 1656 | CW | mentioned "South Lake area"; fading
deeply |
1700 | KTBK (Dallas/Ft. Worth) | 0 | D | 1701 | sports talk | |
And now, here are some beacons heard below the AM BCB.
Beacon Log |
Frequency | Call | Location |
314 | GGU | Prague, OK |
|
350 | RG | Will Rogers, OKC, OK |
|
~370 | OUN | Norman, OK (Supposed to be 260 KHz ??) |
|
388 | OFZ | Fort Sill, OK |
|
396 | CQB | Chandler, OK |
|
411 | HDL | Holdenville, OK |
|
425 | PFL | Fort Sill, OK |
|
512 | HMY | Lexington-Muldrow, OK |