On 5/24/2014 2:33 AM, Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP wrote:
The "Fan Dipole" is one of the worst antennas there is . . . in the eyes of
the neighbors.
Regardless of its technical characteristics, the neighbors think "it's ugly
and destroys the value of the neighborhood property." That's their biggest
disadvantage.
That varies with your neighborhood, your neighbors, and how you build
it. They are certainly less ugly than a big Yagi or quad. And it's also
possible to build fan dipoles with reduced visibility by using smaller
wire for the shorter elements and smaller diameter spacers. Likewise,
high impedance open wire line can be done very well with a pair of
enameled wires and small spacers.
Somewhere on my website are photos of the hillbilly antenna farm on my
Chicago house. I never had a single complaint from anyone about it. Yes,
people did occasionally pause as they walked down the street and stare
at it, and our governor at the time (who is currently in prison for
bribery) used to jog by every week or two accompanied by bodyguards on
bicycles.
When I moved to CA in 2006, I sold that house to the couple who had been
my tenants for ten years or so. I took down the ham antennas, but two
yagis, one for TV and one for FM, were still there when I drove by last
year.
My fan dipoles are up 120 ft, so I'm using #9 bare hard drawn copper for
the long element that has the stress on it, and #14 house wire for the
shorter elements. For an antenna that was lower, and thus didn't have to
support as much coax (I feed them with RG11), wire sizes could be
reduced to #14 for the long element, #18 for the shorter one(s). My high
fans use 1/2-in PVC conduit as spacers, but that lower dipole could
easily be built with clear plastic, or lexan dowels, or even wood dowels
of much smaller diameter. If the antenna isn't very high and run is
fairly short, you can use smaller diameter coax to reduce weight and
visibility.
An important thing I learned working in theater and with architects is
that stuff that is pretty big looks a lot smaller when it's 50 ft up in
the air.
Yes, a single wire dipole to work all bands is "easy," but easy doesn't
always get you through the pileups to work the rare DX, make contesting
fun, or let you be heard by your buddies on 75M. It takes "good" to do
that.
73, Jim K9YC
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