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Thread: Helical wound vertical for Top Band!

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  1. #3
    Whacker Knot WØTKX's Avatar
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    Aug 2008
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    The band intrigues the heck out of me too. The SK Elmer who's call I hold was a 160 "nutcase", and I helped him make a bunch of interesting antennas for that band in the 70's. Learned a lot, and would enjoy getting on top band to honor these memories.

    Had some fun on 160 a few years ago when I had the room for a half wave OCF dipole. Never ran power, but I was able to talk coast to coast on SSB and made a few CW DX contacts. It was about 80' up in the air over very poor rocky soil. My little Ten Tec Omni D into a tuner did quite well for "barefoot" on 160. Surprisingly well. Of course being in the country near the continental divide at 10,500 feet didn't hurt. It was pretty quiet.

    I have seen the article you linked to in the past, and saved as a possible solution. Also have stashed away four sturdy 4" diameter 6' mailing tubes that would do well if I coated them with epoxy paint and wound wire around them. But I never tried it... still might.

    The new place has room for a full sized half wave dipole as well, and that is what I will be putting up... probably by next week. It will be lower... about 50-60' up in the air, same kind of rocky soil. Thing is, that makes a killer multi-band antenna up to about 20 meters or so, where it starts to really "lobe out", the petals of gain are hit and miss. But that's OK, as I really enjoy 75/80, 60, and 40 meters in the winter. But this large of a dipole would let me play on 160 again, even with an amplifier.

    Might put up a full sized loop instead, but need to put up my Gap antenna as well. So the dipole will probably do for now, due to time constraints. I've gotten used to having the horizontal and vertical choice for antennas. But the loop would be better, I ran one that was about 440' total length for quite a while, and it was pretty amazing as a multi-band antenna. A bit short and "touchy" for 160, so I didn't run power.

    Also have an HF2V that could be modified with a large wire "top hat". Have the 160 coil, but it won't take any power and would want to modify it so it could, which means a beefier coil. Those big mailer tubes might come in handy for that. Thick wire, large spacing, and mess with the antenna analyzer to get it dialed in. But I don't think I'll have time to do that before winter sets in. At 8500' elevation, I only have a few more weeks to get antennas up. Loops are a bit more work, and the trees are close together.

    With any luck, I can join you and others there on 160. As the article says... no excuses, MMMMKay!
    Last edited by WØTKX; 10-04-2012 at 04:10 PM.
    "Where would we be without the agitators of the world to attach the electrodes
    of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?" ~ Professor "Dick" Soloman



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