i am thinking of putting up a 160 meter antenna here at my folkses since i moved back home. The lot is shaped like a big L with one leg going south and the other east.
I know id have room for the south leg but, the east leg would have to be folded back to a 90 degree angle or steeper. How would this affect the tuning on the antenna?
Folded, you say?Originally Posted by K9FON
How about a folded dipole fed with a 4:1 balun and coax?
You should be able to get such an arrangement in the air in ~125 linear feet.
"Everyone wants to be an AM Gangsta until it's time to start doing AM Gangsta shit."
Speaking of folded dipoles has anyone had any exp. with the B&W folded dipoles?
They look like the way to go, but i have heard some hams having problems with the termination resistor burning out with power. I run over 1200 watts so that might be an issue.
I would look into shortening a folded dipole by means of a couple of loading coils placed in the bottom two "legs", equidistant from the feed point and the end supports.
The 'T2FD' design is not favorable for high power unless you can get your hands on some high-wattage, non inductive resistors. That might be a bit hard to do.
You could even shorten a regular dipole with a pair of loading coils, and if you choose the "inside" lengths wisely you'll have a multiband antenna to boot.
Look at Alpha-Delta's "DX-LB" series of dipoles. 160-80-40 in a 100' overall length package. This would be doable in your situation, and could be easily duplicated by the amateur constructor. If you need extra bandwidth, you could always get clever with a pair of vacuum relays at the ends of the thing and switch in an extra foot or two of wire:
"Everyone wants to be an AM Gangsta until it's time to start doing AM Gangsta shit."
Ya know, I have a 20 40 80 and 160 meter trap dipole at my old house, but my ex has it now and getting that back is subject to question!!!!!!!
Spi-Ro has a set of 160 meter antenna shorteners that might work. But i dont know what the power handling capabilities are.
K9FON
http://www.qsl.net/aa3px/invl.htm
My friend has an "Inverted L" that works pretty good...
I had a B&W 10-80 meter folded dipole up some time ago. I didn't run any significant power into it. My experience was that it was nice and quiet on receive, and a decent performer on the higher bands. The performance on 40 meters, and especially 75/80 meters, left a bit to be desired.
Mine was mounted as a flat-top, up about 55', in a nice clear area. I replaced it with a dipole cut for 80 meters, and fed with 450 ohm ladder line. The difference in performance was incredible, with the dipole winning hands down.
No help for your antenna question, but I hope you find the info on the B&W useful!
QAnon / GOP Republicans mentally lack the necessary intelligence to even tell a decent lie (Ex: A cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic pedophiles run a global child sex trafficking ring and conspired against former President Dotard dRUMPf during his term in office... Jewish space lasers, etc.). What in the hell makes anyone believe these melon heads can actually govern?
The B&W is a re-make of the "T2FD" which is a shortened terminated "LOOP" antenna.
"LOOP" antennas are usually quieter than dipole's unless you live in a "HIGH NOISE" area.
There was an article on winding a 160 vertical in qst a couple of months ago that looked interesting , but I haven't tried it as yet , might work out good for you on a small lot though.
73, John
Same here, except I had the 6-160 M folded [strike:19wdb9o2]dummy load[/strike:19wdb9o2] dipole. Very quiet on the receive, but lackluster transmit performer. I replaced it with a full 160 meter/273 foot dipole with 450 ohm windowed ladder line (stranded). The dipole is a better performer.I had a B&W 10-80 meter folded dipole up some time ago. I didn't run any significant power into it. My experience was that it was nice and quiet on receive, and a decent performer on the higher bands. The performance on 40 meters, and especially 75/80 meters, left a bit to be desired.
Mine was mounted as a flat-top, up about 55', in a nice clear area. I replaced it with a dipole cut for 80 meters, and fed with 450 ohm ladder line. The difference in performance was incredible, with the dipole winning hands down.
No help for your antenna question, but I hope you find the info on the B&W useful!
Use an 80 meter doublet fed with balanced line. Tie the ends of the balanced line together and work it against a good ground. Won't be the greatest but will steill get you out on 160.
I keep my 2 feet on the ground, and my head in the twilight zone.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote