[TenTec] Tuner

[k6jek]

There is a whole sub-culture of people working with OCF's. There is a Yahoo group. There is a rather nice website by Serge Stroobrandt, ON4AA, with links to a lot of the literature and his own design: http://hamwaves.com/cl-ocfd/

Among other things, they recommend two baluns at the feed point, a hefty 4:1 followed by a choke balun, and maybe another choke balun down the feed line a ways. 

I've been tempted to try an OCF because the trees are in exactly the right places but I'm hesitant because the last time I tried an OCF I had the sort of fun Jim alluded to. It was a devil trying to find that 200 ohm point. The feed line radiation gave me RFI in every device in the house. Of course, back then I was using one balun, not two, not three.

Life sure is easier with (more or less) balanced antennas.

Jon, K6JEK

On Jul 9, 2013, at 12:36 PM, Jim Brown wrote:

> On 7/9/2013 12:57 AM, Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP wrote:
>> Example:  My current QTH.  The landlord permitted me ONE single antenna.  It
>> must be as inconspicuous as possible.  Normally under these limitations, I
>> would run an openwire fed antenna.  Running openwire through the air at this
>> QTH is absolutely out of the question.  Yet I want to run contests on 6
>> bands.
> 
> Yes, that's the unfortunate situation that many hams are stuck with, and so was I for 30 years until I bought that house in Chicago.  At a rental apartment, I had a Butternut vertical at the edge of a roof, and very low visibility wire dipoles strong across the roof and from the roof to a telephone/power pole in the alley (that the telco lineman would remove when he saw it).
> 
>> With this antenna, I scored over 1 million points in CQWW CW last year.
>> What other invisible antenna enables you to do that?
> 
> You were only able to do that because you are in EU. It is 20 times more difficult to do that from W6, and even more so from places like VK/ZL.
> 
>> It's horses for courses.
> 
> Of course -- that's the approach ALL of us should be taking for antennas.  I often help local hams figure out how to make the best use of their small lots for antennas.  N6NUL and W6SX are two guys who have done a LOT with not much space.  N6NUL has a town house near the Santa Cruz harbor, with a TINY yard.
> 
>> We live on a mountain side with a 40 degree incline.  TERRIBLE for a ham.
> 
> You should see NI6T's QTH, about 20 miles from me. He's at the bottom of a VERY deep canyon, with the mountainside rising at least 800 ft above him on both sides. His antennas are up 60-80 ft, but are more than 300 ft below the major highway that weaves its way around the rim of the canyon. And like me, he's surrounded by giant redwoods, and uses them to support his antennas. Garry is on the DXCC Honor Roll. Like you, his XYL chose the house, and although he has been a ham since his Junior High School days, he was not active when they moved there about 30 years ago. :)
> 
> 73, Jim K9YC
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