Rick,
We have very similar situations. My property is 540 ft NS
and 300 ft EW at the North end, 400 ft EW at the South end,
with a creek meandering around on the east side.
I have two bi-directional 525 ft wires running along 30 / 210 deg
and 150 / 330 deg. My East and NE Beverages run in unused
woods beyond my property lines. (I guess I need to get on the
stick and publish my bi-directional design).
My recommendations: N/S Beverages are a waste of effort.
(Almost NOTHING comes from due north, even stations over the
pole. Only CE0 and Central America comes in from due south).
LP almost always comes along the terminators at Sunrise and
Sunset, approximately 160 deg and 200 deg. It is useful to have
Beverages every 30 degrees if possible, skipping N and S.
Every 45 is OK (say 45, 90, 135, 225, 270, 315).
500 to 600 ft works VERY WELL on 80 / 40M, OK on 160.
800 to 1200 ft works better on 160 but sucks on 80 / 40
until very late at night, several hours after sunset. Short
Beverages (240 to 400 ft) can be surprisingly good at times,
especially on 40M.
Use #14 or #16 wire. Anything smaller breaks too easy.
My old Beverages are made from stranded THHN which
can be spliced easily. My newer Beverages are #14
soft copper. When they catch falling limbs, they just
STRETCH instead of breaking :-). A mechanical "FUSE"
made of smaller wire or string at the ends will protect
the wire from breaking and makes for simple repair.
If you have trees, you can make a nice wire vertical for
80 / 40M. I have a 61 ft 'half Bow Tie' that has excellent
bandwidth on 80M fed with 1/4 WL of RG58 then 1/2 inch
CATV hardline to the house.
A second short tower (40 ft) and another tribander is
VERY useful for contesting. 80M dipoles at 140 to
160 ft play VERY WELL. Aim at EA / ZL, JA / S.A.
de Tom N4KG
(7 towers, 20+ TX antennas, 7 Beverages, 4 acres)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
On Tue, 27 Mar 2001 "Rick Bullon" <kc5ajx@hotmail.com> writes:
> Hello All
> I am still in the process of constructing my antenna system. I have
> the base
> in and I only need to put the beams together an erect the tower (
> waiting
> for decent warmer dry weather :) )
> I have been looking into putting up some beverage antennas for use
> in
> contests. My problem is room ( anyone not have this problem? :) )
> I have 5 acres in the country the plot is 550ft NS and 375 EW the NS
>
> boundies are fixed by a road to the North and a creek to the South.
> The EW line can be extended as my mother owns the 5 acres next to be
> to the
> West. I can not erect beverages in any other directions because of
> the
> position of the house and the XYL's gardens.
> My problem is that the NS beverage will be only 50' of the tower. I
> think
> this might be a problem as I plan to shunt feed the tower on 160 and
> hang a
> dipole for 80 from the tower, until I can get something better, the
> acreage
> to the west is empty land and owned by a guy who never comes out to
> the
> property ( I have only seen him 2 or 3 times in 15 years) so I might
> be able
> to put the beverage just over the property line until he finds out
> about it.
> I don't know how to get a hold of him so I can't ask permission
> worse case
> is he will tell me to get it off his property and I will do so if
> and when
> asked.
> Another problem is the north end of the NS beverage terminate under
> the high
> power lines running along the road. Could this cause problems with
> line
> noise?
> Should I feed both the EW and NS beverages from the point where they
> meet at
> the SW corner of the property or feed the EW one from there and the
> NS from
> the North end of the North end under the power lines?
> Is this a worth while project or will the beverage be too short to
> be worth
> while?I plan to use them for receive only on 80 and 160.
> Your opinions on the subject are must appreciated and valued
> 73
> Rick
> KC5AJX
> P.S. if it makes any difference the tower will be 70' of 25g with a
> stack of
> TH6's at 35 and 70 ft, a Force 12 EF 240X at about 80ft. Tower with
> be shunt
> fed for 160, 80 meter antenna still not decided on yet most probably
> a 1/2
> wave inverted V for now
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
>
________________________________________________________________
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