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[Towertalk] GAO Challenger DX

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [Towertalk] GAO Challenger DX
From: n5bsd@arrl.net (John von Gonten)
Date: 07 Oct 2002 10:54:00 -0500
I plan on guying the antennae anyway I mount it, but in order to keep it
out harms way around here I have to lift it, the only place that I could
ground mount it and be sure it was out of the way enough would put the
top of the antennae into or far to close to the power lines that run
beside and behind my house. So an elevated mount, on the side of my
shack is about the only way I can garuntee it some saftey, I am looking
at starting it on a 10 ft pole with guys some 30 ft from the ground,
putting them 20 ft up the antennae itself.


As far as the counterpoise, I have a radil set the consists of 4 8'6"
aluminum sticks, extruded, heavy aluminum. I am wondering if elevated,
these can take the place of the 3 25' wires sold by GAP for this
antennea.

As I have said before I have limited space and currently limited funds,
so the challenger fits both, just need to keep it from getting run into.



On Mon, 2002-10-07 at 10:14, Steve Katz wrote:
> John,
> 
> I wouldn't recommend elevated mounting of the Challenger DX.  As I've stated
> before, if you had one on hand, and lifted it off the ground, you'd know
> pretty quickly why this isn't recommended.  It's top heavy, catches a lot of
> wind, and really needs a strong, substantial base, or the base will be the
> weak link that renders the antenna scrap aluminum in the yard below.
> 
> However, just for clarification, the three 25' wires attached like radials
> to the base of the Challenger are not a counterpoise.  They are
> bottom-loading to achieve resonance on 40/80 meters, and do nothing at all
> on the higher bands.  The Challenger is not a base-fed vertical, it's
> center-fed, with linear loading on most bands as well as bottom loading on
> 40, and top and bottom loading on 80.  I've disconnected the wires
> completely and noted zero impact on 20-15-10m, but a rather dramatic impact
> on 40/80 (like a resonance shift, completely out of the band).
> 
> WB2WIK/6
> 
> "If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." -
> Mario Andretti
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:       John von Gonten [SMTP:n5bsd@arrl.net]
> > Sent:       Sunday, October 06, 2002 1:59 PM
> > To: towertalk@contesting.com
> > Subject:    [Towertalk] GAO Challenger DX
> > 
> > I am looking at starting my station with a GAP Challenger DX Antennae.
> > I will have to mount this at least 10ft off the ground to keep it out of
> > harms way, too many accident prone people around here. :)
> > 
> > Does anyone have suggestions on the performance and use of counterpoise
> > when elevated for this antennae?? And how well do they work for DXing
> > and contesting?  I am trying to find more real world data on this, my
> > budget and lot prevent me from getting to elaborate with my antennas
> > currently.
> > 
> > I have had a few people tel me they are strictly ground mount and even
> > the GAP tech support people have no ideas on how the counterpoise would
> > work in an elevated situation.
> > 
> > Any and help will be greatly appreciated.
> > -- 
> > 73
> > 
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > | John von Gonten   - N5BSD        | ERROR 406: file corrupt:           
> > | Grid-Square: EM12lr              | config.earth --- reboot universe?  
> > | Email : N5BSD@rblprd.com         | (Y/N)
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> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >  
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-- 
73

------------------------------------------------------------------------
| John von Gonten   - N5BSD        | ERROR 406: file corrupt:           
| Grid-Square: EM12lr              | config.earth --- reboot universe?  
| Email : N5BSD@rblprd.com         | (Y/N)
| WEB   : http://www.rblprd.com    |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
GO d- s a- C++ BL* P+ L++ E-- 
W++++ N+ o++ K- w+ !O M V- !PS
PE+ Y+ PGP++ t 5 X+ R tv++ b++
DI+ D G e>e+ h! r++ y++>* UF++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK---


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