New antenna suggestions?

[NQ6U]

It's been pretty windy here today and a big gust just just blew in from the southeast and pulled apart the G5RV Jr. I put up immediately after getting my general ticket. Not really a big loss, the G5RV Jr. wasn't a great performer (not even resonant on any ham band) and I'd been thinking about replacing it with something else anyhow.

I already have a dual band wire antenna for 20m/40m and have been thinking about something for either 15m or 30m—perhaps a trapped dipole for both? There isn't enough distance between the trees I've been using as supports for anything below 30m.

Suggestions are solicited.

[WØTKX]

Umm, maybe a ladder line fed loop with a tuner?

An inverted "L" maybe?

Love to hear you on the lower bands in the winter.

[KC2UGV]

I'm a big fan of...

fan dipoles. hahaha

I don't know the math, but it seems traps are lossier than the "extra legs" on the dipoles, and my fan has served me well for 3 bands. I know they get quite fickle the more bands you add though.

[WZ7U]

The question becomes about the space you do have when considering antenna choices. Everyone has their pet methods of launching electrons and with antennas size does matter. Of course you know all this already..... it comes down to what you need to keep yourself happy in this hobby.

For some of us (myself included in this) spare funds play into it. Personally I'm not afraid of 'repurposing' things others think of as trash. For example, today the yl had me helping her in the yard just going around picking out the stuff that needed to feed the garbage dump. She has a thing for using strings of white/clear christmas lights as outdoor lighting, so they usually only last a year or so. I spent a bit of time picking out the good wire so when time comes to experiment with a new variation of antenna, I won't have to use the debit card to pick up a roll of wire. Right now my time is of such little value I can afford to take the effort to do this while visiting with the yl while she is repotting plants out in the yard on a nice sunday afternoon. I get the attaboys for hanging out and being social while replenishing my stock of cheap experiment stock. A win/win in my book. Besides, she is updating her light stock with LEDs every year at the after christmas sales so I'm in wire for a while to come.

So, I'm partial to low hung loops on the low bands because I like the way they propagate (nvis). Verticals are ok for low angle dx on a budget although I need to get another to replace the one lost in the move. Simple dipoles work ok too, it's all in what keeps you happy right? I wish I could afford a tall tower and a monster beam but I'm ok without it. I do need to find a guy that will climb some taller trees for a reasonable fee so I can get my wires up higher this time. I hope you can come up with a solution that meets your criteria without becoming a pain in the ass for ya. If there is one thing I ALWAYS hear guys go on about, it's antennas.

Keep us updated, will ya? I love yakking antennas.

[w2amr]

I have a 6 band, ground mounted butternut vertical, with sixteen 20" counterpoise wires. I recently installed the 12 and 17 meter add on kits. I love it.

[W3WN]

I have a 6 band, ground mounted butternut vertical, with sixteen 20" counterpoise wires. I recently installed the 12 and 17 meter add on kits. I love it.

Can you say... HF6V?

I've been running one of those for many, many moons. Got my first one back when I worked in the local ham store, from Mr. Butternut [Don Newcomb WØDN (SK)] himself. It survived many moves, getting turned into a pretzel once, and performed very well up until the end.

I'm on my second one, which was willed to me from the estate of a SK. (Well, technically it's my third one; I had a second one I picked up used, ended up selling it to a local ham who used it on many DXpeditions).

Still have the original one; it's currently sitting in storage, along with the HF2V. "B" tube broke on me. My fault, actually; during one of the moves, I didn't install the base correctly, wind caused some damage due to my error. NB3C was kind enough to take the tube into work (USAir at the time) and due an aluminum weld to repair the damage. The weld is what gave way... over 10 years later. I have a new "B" tube, I just never got around to dismantling the antenna to replace the tube. One of these days, though, I will.

[kb2crk]

Can always use a Fractal

[KD8TUT]

It's been pretty windy here today and a big gust just just blew in from the southeast and pulled apart the G5RV Jr. I put up immediately after getting my general ticket. Not really a big loss, the G5RV Jr. wasn't a great performer (not even resonant on any ham band) and I'd been thinking about replacing it with something else anyhow.

I already have a dual band wire antenna for 20m/40m and have been thinking about something for either 15m or 30m—perhaps a trapped dipole for both? There isn't enough distance between the trees I've been using as supports for anything below 30m.

Suggestions are solicited.

I've had good results with off-center fed windoms- usually in an inverted V. I've got two, one that is a resonant 80/40/20 sort of antenna. And another which is 40/20/10/6. Can tune them to usability on any of the bands with the loss that comes along with it.

The 80 meter one is something like 134ft. And the 40 is something like 73ft. Heights are 40ft and 30 ft.

Not going to claim these are a panacea. However, I'm very happy.

In my short tenure as a ham, I've grown to respect resonant wire antennas a lot more than I had expected to. They certainly can perform.

[KD5OEI]

I've a nice dipole made of bare wire ladder line (both conductors serving as one 'wire' of a leg), some 65FT or so in length per leg.

It has four legs, two for each 'side' and two are slightly longer than the other two which makes it a little broader, I guess. So it is a kind of fan dipole I suppose. It's a Tekrad, very old, not made any more. Found it new in the box at a fest for $10. tekrad mark V.jpg

It is fed by an integral section of the same open wire line. This is run into the shack to the back of the tuner. The tuner is an MFJ 989. The "3KW" 989 adequate for SSB but for high duty modes @ QRO the ceramic trimmer used for calibration on the measurement board has to be replaced with something better like a small air trimmer because it will arc and burn.

A 1:1 current balun is used from the tuner's coaxial output to the open wire transmission line. This works well and tunes all bands 80-10 fairly easily. It's a bit sharp on 80M. I had used a 4:1 previously but it caused high current on the SO239s. Results are more satisfactory with a 1:1. The point is that I do not use the tuner's internal balun.

I'm no expert on antennas but this has not given me any trouble.