[TenTec] RE: Sterba Curtain

[N0KHQ at aol.com]

Hello All,

Your dicussing something that I know a little bit about so heres my $0.02.

The Sterba Cutain was developed and designed by E. J. Sterba during his 
employment with Bell Labs in the 1930's.
His design was install at Lawrenceville, New Jersey for trans-oceanic 
communications into Europe and South America.
The ARRL Antenna Handbook dedicated a whole half of a paragraph to probably 
one of the most effective antenna systems ever designed.

We, my antenna elmer and I, completed testing of the curtain last fall. To 
our surprise the best feed arrangement for the curtain, using a symetrical 
mechanical design, was to feed the antenna right in the middle between the upper 
horizontal and lower horizontal elements (with no twist) and not as shown in the 
ARRL Antenna Handbook. 

I run a Sterba at my QTH an have for over four years. The curtain design 
freq. was 28.5,
with two half wave bays and two 1/4 wave bays this allowed for 800 square 
feet of appeture and is up at 50' (top horizontal elements).
Probably the most beneficial aspect of this design is the curtains 
performance on all hf bands from 160m to 6m with the aid of a 4:1 current balun and a 
good quality tuner (238B).

If you wish to see my design please visit:

Hamuniverse.Com....click on "Antennas".....then click on "All Band Sterba 
Curtain" for complete construction details of the antenna system I run here.

73

John/N0KHQ/St. Louis