Falcon Antenna Dipoles

[W5BRM]

Has anyone tried these?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_electronics?_encoding=UTF8&field-brandtextbin=Falcon%20Antenna&node=172282

Curious as I might be looking to install some antennas at the home qth. Prices seem ok but I have never heard of these guys

[KJ3N]

A 2m dipole? Seriously?

Why not just make your own antennas?

[KG4CGC]

No but they look interesting.

[W5BRM]

A 2m dipole? Seriously?

Why not just make your own antennas?

Time constraints...lol I'm home 3 days once every 28-30. If I had the time to tinker, I would love making antenna's.

[KJ3N]

I'm home 3 days once every 28-30.

I hope you're young and paid well. I wouldn't do that.

An 80m doublet fed with ladder line should take less than an hour to make. I've wasted more time getting the support ropes into the trees than I spent building the antenna.

[KG4NEL]

I've had good luck with The Wireman for antenna supplies. They even have a limited selection of kits that include commonly-used parts.

[KC2UGV]

Has anyone tried these?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_electronics?_encoding=UTF8&field-brandtextbin=Falcon%20Antenna&node=172282

Curious as I might be looking to install some antennas at the home qth. Prices seem ok but I have never heard of these guys

Well, they're dipoles. Hard to be able to find X being better than Y... After all, it's two wires, and a coax connection.

FWIW, there's a big push to put baluns on the centerpoint of dipoles. Often times, it causes more harm than good. Other times, it does nothing. 10% of the time, it can fix a problem. I'd skip the balun.

[W5BRM]

I hope you're young and paid well. I wouldn't do that.

An 80m doublet fed with ladder line should take less than an hour to make. I've wasted more time getting the support ropes into the trees than I spent building the antenna.

Im paid moderately well. Gets the bills paid. Not much left over anymore like there used to be. Im 45 so not old but not a stud anymore either...lol

I got trees aroind the house but also close neighbors and hv power lines all over so my hanging options are limited. Cant afford a vertical so thats why im thinking dipole IF i can work around these issues

[KC2UGV]

Im paid moderately well. Gets the bills paid. Not much left over anymore like there used to be. Im 45 so not old but not a stud anymore either...lol

I got trees aroind the house but also close neighbors and hv power lines all over so my hanging options are limited. Cant afford a vertical so thats why im thinking dipole IF i can work around these issues

Understandable with you being on the road and whatnot; but if you are really short on cash, you'd be much better off making one yourself. Seriously: It's about an hour of time to do a 3 band fan dipole.

To deal with close neighbors, you'l have to get creative on how you lay out your antenna, but it's generally doable, even in a crowded city lot to get a 40 meter dipole up.

[W3WN]

Im paid moderately well. Gets the bills paid. Not much left over anymore like there used to be. Im 45 so not old but not a stud anymore either...lol

I got trees aroind the house but also close neighbors and hv power lines all over so my hanging options are limited. Cant afford a vertical so thats why im thinking dipole IF i can work around these issuesSure you can. (Afford a vertical, that is)

Got room in your front yard for a flag pole? I can tell you how to make a Flag Pole Vertical for 40 and up for under $50 out of pocket. In fact, PM me an email address (unless you don't mind posting it here, up to you) and I'll forward you a copy of my club's July newsletter, which includes an article on just that.

[KG4NEL]

100W-rated autotuners that can mount at the base of the vertical aren't too badly priced, if you're OK with staying at 100W. Get 33' or so up, and as many ground radials as you can fit.

QRO versions, however, are stratospheric...

[K7SGJ]

Time constraints...lol I'm home 3 days once every 28-30. If I had the time to tinker, I would love making antenna's.

Fact is, put up whatever you can afford in the time you have available. Any antenna is better than no antenna. Although fan dipoles are easy to build, it does take some time to tweak them in. A store bought one should be pruned as well, but it will probably work right out of the box and get you going. What ever you decide to do, good luck, and maybe we can chat some day. (After I fix my own antennas after the last storm)

[KG4CGC]

What the hell is an FMBCB bazooka? Yes, it's for TX but would it have massive gains on the receiving side? This peaked my interest since I'm into FMBCB DX.

[KG4CGC]

Fact is, put up whatever you can afford in the time you have available. Any antenna is better than no antenna. Although fan dipoles are easy to build, it does take some time to tweak them in. A store bought one should be pruned as well, but it will probably work right out of the box and get you going. What ever you decide to do, good luck, and maybe we can chat some day. (After I fix my own antennas after the last storm)
What he said. If you have a tuner just get the wire up. I prefer buying wire at the hardware store in 500' spools and picking up some window line and just making a coax balun.
Some soldering and a few casts with the big pole and you're in business.

[kb2vxa]

"What the hell is an FMBCB bazooka?"
Aw cummon, it's a bazooka cut for the FM broadcast band and not very practical. The vertical is a coaxial dipole so it has unity gain and the horizontal has a weird radiation pattern so you never really know where the lobes are.
"Yes, it's for TX but would it have massive gains on the receiving side?"
Gain yes, but that depends on which lobe the transmitter is in if it's in any lobe. Massive? Nowhere close to the typical 8dBd gain of an 8el Yagi.
"This peaked my interest since I'm into FMBCB DX."
A Yagi such as the Winegard HD6055P and rotor with RG-6U quad shield coax is pretty much your best bet.
http://www.winegard.com/kbase/upload/HD6055P.pdf
You can pick one up at Home Despot on Pleasantburg Dr., or Costyouplentyco on Woodruff Rd., Greenville, SC.

Oh crap, the diagram for the vertical didn't come out right but it's basically a coaxial dipole. The top section is a rod connected to the center conductor of the coax and the bottom section is a sleeve over the coax and connected to the shield. A cheap and dirty portable version is made by stripping the outer jacket away the full length of the dipole and the shield folded back over what remains insulating it from the coax itself, the exposed center conductor forms the top element.

[KG4CGC]

"What the hell is an FMBCB bazooka?"
Aw cummon, it's a bazooka cut for the FM broadcast band and not very practical. The vertical is a coaxial dipole so it has unity gain and the horizontal has a weird radiation pattern so you never really know where the lobes are.
"Yes, it's for TX but would it have massive gains on the receiving side?"
Gain yes, but that depends on which lobe the transmitter is in if it's in any lobe. Massive? Nowhere close to the typical 8dBd gain of an 8el Yagi.
"This peaked my interest since I'm into FMBCB DX."
A Yagi such as the Winegard HD6055P and rotor with RG-6U quad shield coax is pretty much your best bet.
http://www.winegard.com/kbase/upload/HD6055P.pdf
You can pick one up at Home Despot on Pleasantburg Dr., or Costyouplentyco on Woodruff Rd., Greenville, SC.

Oh crap, the diagram for the vertical didn't come out right but it's basically a coaxial dipole. The top section is a rod connected to the center conductor of the coax and the bottom section is a sleeve over the coax and connected to the shield. A cheap and dirty portable version is made by stripping the outer jacket away the full length of the dipole and the shield folded back over what remains insulating it from the coax itself, the exposed center conductor forms the top element.
You are assuming I'm not already using an FMBCB yagi with RG-6QS and variable signal amp.
No, I did not mention it. I just wanted to talk about an FMBCB buzzooker.
Thanks for the pictures though. I like pictures since I'm kind of visual and it really gets the old gears to grinding through the rust.
Dick Lugar.