Any Windom class antenna is only going to have radiation off the feedline
approximating a low vertical at best. If the feedline is only quarter wave
that is. If the feedline before the isolator is very long, then the windom
can be looked upon as a feedline radiator loaded by a half wave off center
fed dipole element. The half wave would look like a termination on the
extended feeder length, and inherently, according to the British Antenna
authority Les Moxon, that case would incur a 6 dB loss to the power
available for radiation. His book on antennas that states that is the one
sold by ARRL and RSGB.
No ground mounted quarter wave or half wave vertical has 10 dB gain at any
low angle, thus the manufacturers claim is specious at best. Their web site
notes the claim is base on anecdotal accounts, which are notoriously
affected by propagation, S meter inaccuracies, and operator subjective
interpretations.
The patterns on their web site do not contain any numerical scales! Nor
reference to accepted standard antenna range references.
The OCF antennas, of which the Carolina Windom is one, will radiate on 60m
no better nor worse than a comparable dipole. See W6SAI's last antenna book
on "Off center Fed Antennas" and the excellent web site by W4RNL, L. B.
Cebik with a section on the OCF. < www.cebik.com>
A tuner will be required with it on 60m just as on other bands for optimum
frequency agility. The pattern will likely be offset as Bill Orr, W6SAI and
Cebik show in their papers on the OCF family of antennas. A doublet fed
with open wire or ladder line will have lower losses and can be used with a
tuner as well for agility in getting best output on each channel.
73, Stuart K5KVH
|