On 7/27/99 15:15, Ed- W4EP at ed@privette.com wrote:
>I need something that will ideally cover 10-40m
>including warc bands. I have read the material on the web about the
>R-7000. Is this a decent antenna or just a tall dummy load?
Well, Ed, I'm exactly where you are -- in transistion before putting up a
tower -- but I've been stuck here with temporary antennas for 4.5 years
now. Some financial troubles got in my way....
In any case, I have an R7000. My friends with tribanders (or monobanders)
at 100 feet might call it a dummy load, but it's not too terrible an
antenna. Cushcraft did modify the trap design in late 1998, which
reportedly fixed some bandwidth problems. Mine seems to do OK, especially
on 40m, but isn't so hot on the higher bands. Beware that you shouldn't
run more than about 400 watts into this antenna -- lots of reports of
people frying traps with a full gallon.
If you have some handy supports (like trees), nothing beats the old 125
foot doublet fed with open wire - 80m-10m. Performance is directly
related to height above ground. Of course, you have to use a tuner, but
this type of antenna is really inexpensive to build and maintain. Shorten
it to 70 feet, and you lose 80m, but it may be easier to tune the higher
bands.
I've also got some attic-mounted delta-loops, but if you have outside
supports (I've got none, really) like trees, I'd hang some wires in them.
Cheap and effective. Dipoles, delta loops and inverted L's are all
effective temporary wire antennas.
Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr@radio.org
Quote: "Boot, you transistorized tormentor! Boot!"
-- Archibald Asparagus, VeggieTales
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