Half Square Antenna

Tue Sep 13 11:59:15 EDT 1994

I regularly use a half square antenna on 40m (gardens and supports are
smaller over here) and I call it a half bobtail which I think is more
descriptive. It is an excellent performer and unobtrusive.

If you model the antenna over 'real ground' in Elnec the pattern is not
good, but over perfect ground the pattern is excellent. This shows that
although the antenna does not need radials, it is strongly dependent on good
local ground conditions in order to work well.

The original posting suggests that if you feed it at the bottom corner you
need radials. This is a high impedance point and you can either use a zepp
feed or an LC network. In the latter case, a ground rod or short radial is
all that is needed. A set of radials in the conventional sense is not needed.
As with any vertical, you could improve the performance by extending radials
out to several wavelengths unless the antenna is already placed on salt
water.

I saw the QST article and am a bit uneasy that coax feed at a top corner may
lead to current imbalance, depending on the position of the coax. Feeding at
a bottom corner is nice and easy. Remember the bottoms of the vertical wire
carry LOTS of voltage so should be protected from accidental touching by
children, pets etc.

The original article which coined the term half square spoke of a second
element spaced .15 wavelength and phased, giving greater gain and some f/b.
I wanted to try this but ran out of space in the garden.

Dave G4BUO

>From Danny Eskenazi <0005720561 at mcimail.com>  Tue Sep 13 06:30:00 1994
From: Danny Eskenazi <0005720561 at mcimail.com> (Danny Eskenazi)
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 94 00:30 EST
Subject: SPRINT @ K7SS
Message-ID: <41940913053014/0005720561PK2EM at mcimail.com>

adrenelin/time ratio still the best of all the contests - cw sprint RULES!
Still using just one rig, ts850/alpha 87a th7 and g5rv for 40/80 @ 45'.
GREAT conditions on 80, able to hear and work east coast easily (a first
up here) 40 was very good too. Gave the aforementioned TVI neighbor a call
and he switched to his basement TV for the 4 hours. Still pencil and paper
so I'm sorry if I called you twice. Memory seems good til late on 40 when
I think Ive worked every single guy I tune across. Just had my 50th birthday
and celebrated by not being able to read my log in third hour without new
reading glasses. Is this the beginning of the end????
   RAW SCORE  285 by 43
ciao...cu maybe on ssb
k7ss @ mcimail.com

>From pwalker at mbi.moody.edu (Paul D. Walker II)  Tue Sep 13 12:28:04 1994
From: pwalker at mbi.moody.edu (Paul D. Walker II) (Paul D. Walker II)
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 1994 06:28:04 -500 CDT
Subject: /125 Party - K6LL
Message-ID: <pwalker.126.002B18D8 at mbi.moody.edu>

In article  "David O. Hachadorian" <0006471356 at mcimail.com> writes:

>that MANY of these qso's are from relatively new hams. Now, if
>we can figure out how to get them involved in REAL contests, it will really
>get interesting! Why did this party generate all of this activity? Here are
>my thoughts:

>1. There was a very attractive, multicolor, two page article in QST (Aug, pp
>46-47) describing the activity. The article was not written in the usual
>contest fine print legalese.

>2. There was the promise of a "nice certificate" for making the very
>achievable goal of 25 qso's. Endorsement stickers could be had for making
>additional increments of qso's. It's obvious from the cards and on the air
>that people just did not quit when they got to 25. They found it enjoyable
>and kept on going for more.

>3. The exchange was simple. RS(T)/appointment for the 125 stations, and
>RS(T) for everyone else. In fact, the exchange was TOO simple for most
>people, and they added QTH and Name, making it sound more like a "normal"
>QSO. Most of them demanded to know MY name and QTH, so I gave it now and
>then. 

>Maybe contest sponsors can use some of these basic marketing ideas to
>improve participation. This birthday bash was definitely a smashing success!

>Dave, K6LL
>k6ll at mcimail.com

Agreed, but I think the length of the event was probably a key factor.  I 
still heard folks at 2200z Sept 11 asking what a /125 station was.  It allowed 
people that got in late a reasonable chance at a nice piece of wallpaper.  
People who normally wouldn't sit for 12 hours straight working a contest could 
plan their operating time over the course of ten days.  I had 30 stations 
worked through Labor Day, then only worked 3 on Tues-Thurs.  I ended up with 
52 hoping for the 50 endorsement.  The extra weekend helped me (I hope) get 
the next level.  It was a lot of fun, but I also enjoy contesting so that 
would be expected.

BTW, Dave, a friend of mine and myself both were impressed with your operating 
practices.  Very professional in all respects.  You had a great sounding 
station and moved through the pileups well.  My hat is off to you.

de N9WHG

Paul Walker
pwalker at mbi.moody.edu

>From Rick, K7GM" <AONISWAN at ECUVM.CIS.ECU.EDU  Tue Sep 13 12:37:51 1994
From: Rick, K7GM" <AONISWAN at ECUVM.CIS.ECU.EDU (Rick, K7GM)
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 94 07:37:51 EDT
Subject: sprint mults

WA8ZDT writes:
As I copied the mail on 3830 after last week's CW SPRINT, I noticed that
almost every top-ten score contained xactly 41 multipliers.

Apparently, thats all there was!  Call it lack of activity or whatever,
there were only 41 multipliers active in last Saturday night's SPRINT.  No

----- rest deleted ------

     Wrong.
     Maybe it's because I get to see the logs (at least on phone), but I
think that everyone can think of those 2 or 3 or whatever mults that got
away.  I didn't have close to a top-ten score, but I did have 41 multipliers.
I also heard three active stations (VE2, VE5, VE6) that I didn't get.  I
also didn't work DE which some of you probably got (I'm assuming some of
the NERDS were on).  There were AT LEAST 45 mults on last weekend.
     There are ALWAYS more multipliers on in the Sprint (actively on, not
one that you got on 7002) than the top mult person has.  It is because of a
mix of propagation, band planning, band positioning, contest planning,
and, yes, sometimes a bit of luck that determines how many of those you get.
     N6AA and others have put in their 2 cents worth on the art of getting
mults in the Sprint.  I'm sure that KR0Y, N6TR, K5GA, N4RJ, and a host of
other top ops would agree with the notion that you can do things in the
contest to increase the opportunity to get more multipliers.  But,
please continue to believe that you can't do anything to improve your
mults.  Because then those of us who know that you CAN will do better.

                               Rick, K7GM
                               aoniswan at ecuvm.cis.ecu.edu