I don't know if W9INN is even still alive, but that
man knows/knew his business. He built for me a special
balun and a special antenna configured for what he
thought would be "perfect" for my lot without TVI/RFI/
using ladder line. Well--- he ended up refunding me
saying he was surprised it didn't work and that not
everything fits neatly into a little engineering book.
TRUE STORY!!
I ended up with the B&W for years after that until I
moved to this place where I still don't have enough
land for a full wave antenna.
I tried the 135 foot Van Gorden and it did work ok as
long as I ran barefoot. Between that and the fact I
needed to have one end tied off in my neighbors yard,
I installed an inverted Vee and R8 Vertical the year
of the Okalahoma City bombing. I remember listening to
the gory details while I was installing my antennas
back then. Since then I run 500 to 800 watts CW and
SSB without a trace of RF using coax. Ladder Line is
nice because is so light and cheap, but for me I never
could get rid of all the RF problems and why my
stance.
So there you have it, true story. Not everything fits
like it's supposed to. We live in an imperfect world
and that is what makes is so interesting.
k3ey
--- Robert & Linda McGraw K4TAX <RMcGraw@Blomand.Net>
wrote:
> One doesn't need a lot of space or high supports for
> a wire antenna. In
> fact if one desires to use a wire, make it as long
> as you have space and
> supports. Feed it in the center with a balanced
> feed line to a 1:1 balun
> and then to any of the multitude of tuners
> available. With this arrangement
> actual antenna length is relatively un-important.
> Granted, a resonant or
> near resonant antenna will work a bit better. In my
> case it's a 256 ft
> center fed wire at 50 ft.
>
> I know one respondent on this thread said use a 4:1
> balun. While that works
> in most situations, realize that the step-down is a
> divide by 4 condition.
> Should the load present a Z that is in the order of
> 25 ohms which is then
> divided by 4 or 6.25 ohms, I would question if the
> tuner has very good
> efficiency at the required operating Z. I doubt it.
> Most will only go to
> 12 to 15 ohms on the low end.
>
> On baluns, the basic coax coil flat wound on a piece
> of PVC pipe makes one
> of the most efficient, high power handling baluns
> available. Cost is for
> the coax, I suggest some 15 to 18 ft of the RG-213
> type, and some 3" OD PVC.
>
> 73
> Bob, K4TAX
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Curt" <k3ey@yahoo.com>
> To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment"
> <tentec@contesting.com>
> Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2005 1:02 PM
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] was - "Radiates like
> Crazy"???? No
>
>
> While all you guys are patting yourselves on the
> back
> on how well these antennas work don't forget about
> the
> poor souls, myself included who don't have space for
> a
> 135 foot dipole as well as other restrictions real
> people live with.
>
> Been there done that and YES they work, and work
> well,
> IF you have space which most hams living around and
> in
> cities do NOT have. All you are doing is inviting
> trouble using ladder line otherwise. Preaching with
> zealous shouts of how well they work boarders on
> psychotic. They should rename these antennas
> "Nightmare Generators" for the masses who don't have
> farms and that live where most of the human race
> lives, among others of the same species.
>
>
> For the newbies reading this thread. It's like the
> good book, you get out of it only what you believe
> and
> even that is arbitrary because of the bias slant
> that
> was indoctrinated into your mind while it was still
> malleable.
>
> Try it yourself, if it works, great, if not do what
> most normal hams do, use coax.
>
>
> k3ey
>
>
>
>
>
> --- Carl Moreschi <n4py@arrl.net> wrote:
>
> > I also agree. A 135 foot dipoe as high as
> possible
> > (50 feet or more in the
> > center, inverted Vee is fine) fed with open wire
> or
> > ladder line works very
> > well on 80 to 10 meters. I also suggest using an
> > outdoor tuner such as the
> > LDG RT-11 mounted right under the antenna on the
> > ground. You then run coax
> > from the tuner into the house. This is a great
> > multi-band setup. I have
> > used these many times and I'm always impressed
> with
> > them.
> >
> > Carl Moreschi N4PY
> > Franklinton, NC
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "M. P. Haynes" <k4beh@juno.com>
> > To: <tentec@contesting.com>
> > Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2005 11:53 AM
> > Subject: Re: [TenTec] was - "Radiates like
> > Crazy"???? No
> >
> >
> > > Hi Jack,
> > >
> > > Welcome to the club! My suggestion from many
> > years of experience is to
> > > put up a 135 foot dipole as high as possible.
> > Feed it with ladderline
> > > and a tuner with a 4:1 balun. It will work all
> > bands and give you great
> > > results. You can buy it prepackaged for about
> $40
> > It is made by a
> > > company called Van Gordon and is sold by most
> > radio distributors (Amateur
> > > Electronic Supply, Ham Radio Outlet,etc.) If
> you
> > have room for more
> > > antennas later you can make or purchase more
> > elaborate and complex ones
> > > that will work with additional gain and
> > directivity in a specific
> > > direction (beams, quads, etc.) but as a first
> > antenna you'll find the
> > > dipole hard to beat! Pick up an antenna
> handbook
> > at a hamfest somewhere
> > > and it will give you lots of ideas and insight
> > into antennas.
> > >
> > > 73,
> > > Pat Haynes-K4BEH
> > > Hamming since 1954
> > >
> > >
> > > On Sat, 9 Jul 2005 09:42:01 -0500 "Jack Rubin"
> > <jack.rubin@ameritech.net>
> > > writes:
> > > > Excuse me for jumping in here, and really, I'm
> > not trying to pour
> > > > gasoline
> > > > on the fire!
> > > >
> > > > I'm a new Tech with an Omni D waiting for me
> to
> > pass my code test;
> > > > in the
> > > > meantime I'm reading this list and a few
> others
> > and soaking up a lot
> > > > of
> > > > information (including the fact that various
> > folks have had varying
> > > > experiences and often have divergent
> opinions).
> > > >
> > > > I'm especially interested in this thread
> because
> > I've yet to install
> > > > a
> > > > "serious" antenna - I've been SWL'ing with a
> > slinky - and I'm
> > > > looking for an
> > > > antenna with the magic combination of low
> cost,
> > low visual/spousal
> > > > impact
> > > > and good performance. At this point, something
> > like the folded
> > > > dipole might
> > > > make some sense for space reasons, but here's
> my
> > specific question -
> > > > has
> > > > anyone had experience with the Isotron line of
> > antennas? They are
> > > > at
> > > > http://www.isotronantennas.com/ - not an
> > all-band product but
> > > > definitely
> > > > "stealthy".
> > > >
> > > > Thanks and 73s,
> > > >
> > > > Jack
> > > > KC9HVE
> > > >
> > > >
> _______________________________________________
>
=== message truncated ===
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
|