Cathryn,
Congrats on getting your Extra, and I'm glad you're getting excited about
contesting.
a 42 by 120' lot may seem small, but before you invest big bucks in a tower
and beam, consider trying some simple wire antennas.
If you can place a 30-40' push-up pole on a roof-mounted tripod, you can put
up an 80M inverted vee, fed with ladder line through a tuner. This will make
an excellent all band antenna. I would also recommend you put up a 40M dipole
also fed with ladder line about 10-15 feet below the 80M antenna and on the
opposite diagonal. You can use an L bracket on the push-up to seperate the
feedlines and keep them 12 inches or so from the pole.
With a simple A/B switch you'll observe directionality between the two
antennas. You'll find these antennas will work remarkably well on all bands,
and you'll actually be competitive in contests.
I say this with good authority. My total investment in all my antennas (four)
AND feedline is less than $15!!!! My expenses break down to: 1,000 foot
spool of #24 wire ($10.00), $4.00 worth of plastic hangers (cut up and used as
spacers for open feeders), and $1.00 for a small spool of monofilament fishing
line. Fortunately, I've got some 35' trees in the yard where I "hang" my
antennas.
I do pretty well with this setup, occasionally hitting the top ten box in
various contests. I like to think that I win the Smiles per Dollar contest by
about 100dB. Try some simple wires first and put your $5K in a mutual fund!
It'll be a long time before you tire of theperformance of these antennas.
73, Paul KB8N
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