Agreed, but there's a lot to be said for getting on all bands with one
piece wire even if the radiation pattern is not optimum for a particular
direction. They're tough to beat for a general purpose antenna.
Obviously, if one has options for multiple antennas, phased arrays or
rotatable directional antennas, they're the way to go.
I currently use an 80M EDZ fed with balanced feed line on 40, 80 and
160M. On 80 I get 3 dB gain broadside vs a dipole, and on 160M it is
effectively a dipole. On 40M I use it to get omni-directional coverage,
more or less, for a weekly 40M SSB net.
73, Joe
K2XX
David Gilbert wrote:
> That's true to a point. I have used efficient homebrew antenna tuners
> my entire ham radio life and wouldn't be without one. But you can get
> some REALLY ugly radiation patterns from trying to use the same antenna
> on several bands. The antenna may tune fine and still not be putting
> your RF even close to where you want it to go. I always tried to stay
> reasonably close to a half wavelength ... for example, using a 50 foot
> dipole for both 20m and 40m still gives a fairly clean pattern on both
> bands.
>
> Dave AB7E
>
>
> Donald Chester wrote:
>
>> The best way to solve the problem once and for all is to feed the dipole
>> with open wire tuned feeders, using a balanced, link-coupled antenna tuner.
>> That way you can instantly change the resonant frequency of the antenna to
>> any spot in the band from the comfort of the operating position. And one
>> dipole can cover multiple bands without traps or other jury-rigging.
>>
>>
>> Don, k4kyv
>>
>> _______________________________________________________________
>>
>> This message was typed using the DVORAK keyboard layout.
>> http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak/
>> http://gigliwood.com/abcd/
>>
>> _________________________________________________________________
>> Search for grocery stores. Find gratitude. Turn a simple search into
>> something more.
>> http://click4thecause.live.com/search/charity/default.aspx?source=hmemtagline_gratitude&FORM=WLMTAG
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> TowerTalk mailing list
>> TowerTalk@contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>>
>>
>>
>
>
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|