Just some random thoughts:
If I have 500 feet of wire, I'm making more than 1 antenna.
You mention some rather tall trees, but you don't give any dimensions as far as distance between trees. Also, what's the orientation of these trees? N-S, E-W, something else?
What bands do want this antenna to work on?
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One leg will run E to W and then turn 90 degrees an finish out N to S. The other leg may only run N to S but there are other possibilities. It could go W to E and then turn N to S.
I could conceivably put up enough wire for 160m but that is only a consideration. It'd like to center it at 40m and overlap to 80m with possible overlap to 20m.
I intend to use a completely different set up for 17m. A simple dipole, sloper, etc. I have an A-99 that works 10m through 15m like nobodies business and I switch back and forth between the 80m dipole and the A-99 for 20m depending on which one pulls in the signal better.
The current 80m dipole that some of you guys have heard me on will be relegated to receive only status after the higher new ant goes up.
id still love to see the AM station running on a zep.
what was the power level 1KW?
I AM THE VOICE OF THE VOICELESS!
I am limited for space, occupying only a 1/3-acre lot and being surrounded by neighborhood nazis for whom the sight of any wire that suggests an antenna is anathema. :(
I had a 100' flat top dipole strung in my maples and fed by about 30' or so of 300 Ω window line (cut-n-fit for minimal reflections with analyzer). It gave me excellent performance on 80 through 10, and that despite being only a bit more than twenty-four feets off the ground and buried in lots of maple branches. I do have a very comprehensive system of ground radials cut to the bands (roughly) that were originally installed with ground rods for the AH4 installation, though that tuner and its antenna is no longer being used. The few TB contacts I have in my log were garnered with the ICOM AH4 antenna tuner located on the outside wall feeding a 90' wire. Unfortunately, that lash-up resulted in bizarre RF effects -- especially touch lights in the kitchen, which cycled through the dimmer's range with every key; at night the kitchen might look like a naval bridge with a yeoman sending by lamp. XYL was NOT a happy camper. Hence, the dipole. With the simple flat-top I collected cards from Asia through Eastern Russia (incl Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Iceland, most of Europe, east and west, including Romania, also Peter I Island and a host of other pile ups -- all without using the AL80B, which is more of a PITA to tune quickly than it is worth). I used to log them fastidiously on both computer and paper log, also uploading them to LOTW and EQSL, but have not logged on to either in more than two years. I have not been on HF for that same period of time.
I am now in the process of reinstalling the same design since the last one was brought to the ground by a neighbor's tree falling into my yard. Reusing the same Ten-Tec "Acrobat" center insulator; it is an excellent fixture and very durable. Cost me ten bucks. Twelve gauge insulated wire for the legs, and the window line (which is 14ga copper stranded) to a 1:1 current balun just outside the house. About 25' or so of coax to the IC756P3 and the MFJ993B auto-tuner, which worked flawlessly for me, tuning instantly wherever I wandered on the bands.
If ever I finish the rigging of my leafy masts, I shall announce it with a holler.
The antenna design, BTW, is Walt Maxwell's basic dipole. His book, "Reflections" is a must-have in any ham library. Busts many of the "SWR" myths that plague many amateur minds.
I guess what I am rambling on about is that I am a fan of simple wire in the air. Before too much longer, I shall essay to prove it.
I prove it every time I'm on the air, Albi. Ask anyone here who has worked me. ;)Originally Posted by W3MIV
"People Who Don't Want Their Beliefs Laughed at Shouldn't Have Such Funny Beliefs" -AD5MB
"If someone tells you he believes in and talks to an invisible bunny named Harvey, you put him on medication and a regimen of therapy. If someone tells you he believes in and talks to God, well, that's perfectly acceptable. Why that's the case is impossible for me to fathom." - WP2XX
Latest ClubLog entries.
The only HF antennas I've ever used were wire antennas. I have a trio of home-brew J-poles for 2m, 6m and 220 MHz as well a Cushcraft 6m beam I bought used for fifty bucks but everything else is wire.
All the world’s a stage, but obviously the play is unrehearsed and everybody is ad-libbing his lines. Maybe that’s why it’s hard to tell if we’re living in a tragedy or a farce.
Add another 200' to the equation as I picked up more window line this weekend.
You have a lot of space... how about a big multiband loop and a vertical combo?
"Where would we be without the agitators of the world to attach the electrodes
of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?" ~ Professor "Dick" Soloman
Thanks for the inputs :)
Why not just string some wire as high as you can and use a ladder to feed it? Do something long enough to work 75 and up. A cloud-warmer like I have will not reach out very far on 75, but it covers most of the East Coast at night, and you are entering the only time of year when it is really usable.
Git off'n yer butt an' chuck somethin' up!
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