Don Blevins writes in a message to Scott Christensen
 DB> One Other question...in regards to antennas...( "OH GAWD!...another 
 DB> one!" )...Is it possible to have a dish/directional antenna 
 DB> for rcvg. Distant stations...i.e. 49m band
To be effective, a dish would have to be 10 wavelengths across or more.  
Let's see, 490 meters - darn near a quarter mile.  Hmmm... you answer the 
question!
  
You could put up 2 or more sticks, each 90 degrees high, spaced at 90 
degrees.  That would give you a figure 8 pattern in the direction of the 
sticks.  Kind of hard to shift, though...
The simple dipole, 1/2 wave total receives from the sides in a figure 8 
pattern.  Not a bad idea if you string it in the direction where the stations 
you *don't* want to hear are "off the ends."
  
All in all, a "Beverage" antenna (very long wire (several wavelengths) with 
the far end terminated through a resistor to ground) would be your best bet.  
This antenna recieves best in the direction that the antenna leaves the 
shack.  See your library for "Monitoring Times" - last year they had an 
article on building this kind of antenna.
  
 DB> Or even better would be a directional AM rcvg antenna...in 
 DB> order to listen in on Alaskan satations.Do plans exist for 
 DB> such an antenna and where would I best be prone to find info 
 DB> on this?
  
Same kinds of antennas work on AM as 49 meters, they just have bigger 
elements.  1500 KHz is 200 meters, 750 KHz is 400 meters - just to give you 
some idea of the sizes you are dealing with...
  
 DB> Mind you the dish and main beam I'm thinking of could be constructed 
 DB> of light wood material...
It would have to be *heavy* steel to be 1/4 mile high or more!    You 
aren't going to build that thing out of Balsa!
 
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