[SECC] Antennas for Those Who Can't Put Up a Tower

[Stephen Walls]

 Jeff,
First of all,  I am envious of your 160--80--40 wires.   I am starting to work on some of those here---I've just been slow.
I have a K4KIO Hex beam,  baseplate at about 22',  about 22' in dia.  I have had it up 4-5 years--??-- and never cease to be amazed at what bent wire 2 element beams can do.  Mine is 6 band,  20--6.   As to complexity,  it was 2 hours from open the box, and making QSOs.   No, it was not at 22', but it was talking.  The 2 hours obviously did not include painting time.   With the spreaders painted a medium dark green, it disappears against a background of trees.
If you have any questions,  I will be glad to answer---email offline.
I will tell you why you want the K4KIO vs all the others as well.
Steve   K4ELI

    On Tuesday, June 16, 2020, 12:53:35 PM EDT, Jeff Clarke <ku8e at ku8e.com> wrote:  
 
   
I was motivated to start this discussion after NQ4I suggested we talk about something other that digital modes. If you drove by my house you wouldn't even know that a ham lived here because you can't see any antennas. Unfortunately we have a HOA in my neighborhood so a big tower with beams is out of the question. Fortunately I do live on a two acre wooded lot so I can hide wire antennas in the woods. Plus I'm at the very northern part of my subdivision and the neighbor behind me owns a 10 acre lot and doesn't really care about my antennas. I've live here 11 years and not one complaint from them.
 
 
The KU8E antenna farm is the following:
 
160 Meters - Inverted L with 8 full size elevated radials.
 
80 Meters - Inverted V with center at 65 ft, 130 foot long Center fed zepp with center at 65 ft.
 
40 Meters - 130 foot long Center fed zepp with center at 65 ft. Broadside NE/SW so it's bi-directional on 40 meters, 40 meter dipole at 45 feet broadside SE/NW
 
20 Meters - Dipole at 45 ft broadside N/S.
 
15 Meters - Full wave vertical loop.  See http://kt4qw.com/acan1.htm\
 
10 Meters - Full wave vertical loop.  See http://kt4qw.com/acan1.htm\
 
6 Meters - 5 element yagi hanging from a tree at 45 ft. This is my only aluminum antenna.
 
In the past I've experimented with half squares and a Lazy H but don't have these up right now. I'm to the point now that I would like to expand on my antenna farm  (if you could call it that !) and have some directional antennas. I've though about maybe putting up a quad or dipole array point to EU. I did buy a SpiderBeam once and intended to hang it from a tree limb. I never took it out of the box because it just looked too complicated to put together so I ended up selling it.  I've also thought about buying a tribander and just hanging it from a tree limb but that seemed like a expensive investment, especially if the limb broke and it crashed to the ground.
 
So my question for those in a similar situation what's your suggestion for a good contesting/ DX antenna?
 
Jeff KU8E
 
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