Craig: Use either Google or Bing and do a search on towertalk. The first hit will lead you to the solution. -- Wes Attaway (N5WA) -- 1138 Waters Edge Circle - Shreveport, LA 71106 318-797-4972 (offic
My initial thought is that the proximity of the vertical to your tower will result in quite a bit of mutual coupling between the two. The coupling effects would be minimized if the resonant frequency
I have had BuryFlex in use for 5-yrs and it works great. It is real tough cable, but very flexible. Quite a bit of mine is direct buried. I dug some up not long ago just to take a look and once I rub
Jim Brown correctly points out that a modest vertical with a loading coil or possibly a capacitance hat would be preferable for DX. However, looking at the two possibilities you are considering, if y
I forgot to make it clear that you should feed the antenna at the bottom, as a sort of modified Inverted L. I would not recommend feeding it as a dipole. When you feed it at the bottom you will need
Twist the wires together over about a 1-inch length. Solder the connection and massage some coax-seal around the joints. -- Wes Attaway (N5WA) -- 1138 Waters Edge Circle - Shreveport, LA 71106 318-79
I remember reading something a year or so ago that they were trying to sell their business. -- Wes Attaway (N5WA) -- 1138 Waters Edge Circle - Shreveport, LA 71106 318-797-4972 (office) - 318-393-328
When placed on, or below, dirt galvanized wire rusts away pretty fast here in Louisiana. After a year or two I wouldn't want to be depending on it for anything important. Using copper wire might seem
The prior comments indicate that having MOVs at the service entrance is the way to go to get "whole house" protection. There are a number of commercial products available. I use the following, and ha
Roger is correct. However, if (as in my case) all the units are side by side and all cables enter at the same point, and all grounding is to a single point, then it will work. It is imperative that a
I believe I remember that the old Polyphaser manual had some info about coax loops and bends. The idea is simple, and makes sense, because the grounding at the tower and at the entrance to your house
Depending on the angle of your Vee you may not need any spreaders at all. Just attach the 40M wires at center insulator, put an insulator on each end, and then run a string to the end insulators of t
Make the vertical section as long as you can (65' would be enough) and then make the horizontal portion enough so that the total Vertical and Horizontal length would be 130 to 135'. The exact length
Unless there is some unusual circumstance, I have never used anything, nor have I seen any construction crew (home construction) use anything. You usually just need a hammer and a few whacks at the f
Regular solder is just fine, as a couple of folks have already pointed out. Clean the metal, use a torch to get enough heat, and make your connections. All you need to do next is to weatherproof the
Here is a step-by-step outdoor soldering technique that I have used at least a thousand times over the past 30 or so years: 1. Materials: Copper strap; sheet copper; copper pipe; copper wire in any c
Well, you will get a 36" diameter hole. It should be pretty accurate. You will have to spread all the dirt somewhere. -- Wes Attaway (N5WA) -- 1138 Waters Edge Circle, Shreveport, LA 71106 318-797-49
Tom is correct when he wonders about these posts. SWR close to 50-ohms, and wide antenna bandwidth, is not an indication of radiation efficiency. A lobe in a particular direction is only meaningful i
I would cheat and throw in one that you have a duplicate of. -- Wes Attaway (N5WA) -- 1138 Waters Edge Circle, Shreveport, LA 71106 318-797-4972 (Office) - 318-393-3289 (Cell) Computer Consulting and