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Re: [TowerTalk] Fan dipole Re: Looking for a HP 80/40 Duplexer

To: john@kk9a.com, towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Fan dipole Re: Looking for a HP 80/40 Duplexer
From: "Jim Lux" <jim@luxfamily.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2025 15:00:41 -0500
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
        


The DX-CC is exactly what you describe - three wires connected to a single feed 
point, spaced about 6-8" apart. An element for 10, 20, and 40 (15 is third 
harmonic) and 80 with loading coils on the 40
In the present example, I assume you'd have a 40m dipole and a 80m dipole 
connected together at the feed, and separated by some amount.  I guess if it 
was 90 degrees apart, the isolation would be decent, but most "fans" are 
something like 10-20 degrees, so basically parallel.

And yes, I think that's what was being suggested, separate the wires and have 
separate coax. 

I'm not sure that separating the feedlines makes much difference - you'd bring 
the coax down, go to a T, and then to two BPFs, one for 40, one for 80.



On Tue, 18 Nov 2025 22:50:12 -0500, <john@kk9a.com> wrote:

When I saw fan dipole listed as the 40/80 antenna I was thinking of a
homebrew dipole with separate wire elements attached to a common center
insulator (and maybe choke). I am not at all familiar with the commercial
type you're referring to. I thought it would be easy to make the fan into
two separate dipoles, a little space could be added between them or once
could be rotated a little minimize interaction. I never suggested not using
filters. I would use bandpass filters with the individual dipoles or with a
dual band dipole and a diplexer. For a number of years I had a homebrew 20m
Yagi with a 40m Yagi on the same boom, each had their own feedline and
filters. I had no interference between the bands except for the 2nd
harmonic and never had receiver damage.

John KK9A


Jim Lux wrote:

most fan dipoles (e.g. DX-CC from alpha delta, if you want a commercial
unit) use the same element for 40 and 80 with a sort of trap.
And if you did have a 40/80 fan dipole, the two elements would be so close
together that they might as well be connected at the feedpoint.


If you're putting 1 kW into one of the dipoles, you want around 60 dB
isolation (i.e. 1 mW into the receiver on the other one, and trust that the
receiver can take 0 dBm into the front end).

Just as a note, there's two sort of approaches on this - one is basically a
pair of bandpass filters, one for 40, one for 80. The other approach is a
low pass/high pass combination. There's advantages and disadvantages for
each.


On Tue, 18 Nov 2025 11:47:21 -0500,  wrote:

W8FN's QRZ pages listed his 40m/80m antenna as a fan dipole, not a trap
dipole. I am sure most people on this towertalk list can figure out how to
separate a fan dipole into two antennas with two feedlines. If a diplexer is
a better option than go for it, I was just suggesting another option.



John KK9A


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