Hi Steve, Tom and Topbanders:
A couple of years ago, I tried the experiment, for the same reasons,
that you are considering.
I have two inverted vees for 160 (for my horizontal antennas). My
reference is a center fed zepp (correctly called a hertz antenna) at
70 ft. with the ends at 25 ft. It is fed with 450 balanced line and
has #12 stranded wire for the elements.
My test antenna was made completely with 450 balanced line
including the elements. It has an apex at 100 ft with the ends at
40 ft.
Therefore, I could raise it up and down and convert it from fanned
elements (standard dipole) to a folded dipole configuration. The two
antennas face the same direction and are located some 400 ft apart.
I had the systems setup so that I could switch between them instantly.
The higher test antenna seemed to be slightly louder than the reference
antenna within the 500 mile area that I generally made the tests. It was
anywhere from even to maybe 2 dB or so better.
I could not detect any difference between the folded dipole
configuration
and standard dipole configuration in the test antenna as compared to the
reference antenna.
I modeled the antennas, at the time, with EZNEC and saw almost no
difference between the two configurations. With the folded element, the
impedance at the feed point was higher but gain was within a couple of
tenth, as I recall.
If you want the plots, I would be pleased to get them out of my files
and
send them to you if you'll let me know.
73, Jim, K1PX K1PX@aol.com
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