[TenTec] The Next Flagship

Fri May 23 21:25:01 EDT 2014

Hey, you just described the ORION ll

George, W6GF

On Friday, May 23, 2014 6:22 PM, Dan Presley <dpresley1 at comcast.net> wrote:

I set up a random length 'balanced' equal side length antenna (hate to call this a dipole!) fed with ladder line and a johnson matchbox for a friend who always struggled in a bad and space limited urban location. He couldn't believe the difference on most bands.  now he is actually competitive on qrp. Yes it's not perfect and I'm sure has some lobes and directionality but it's a good compromise antenna for many situations. Much better than a bad vertical. 

Dan Presley 503-701-3871 N7CQR
Dpresley1 at Comcast.net 

> On May 23, 2014, at 15:43, "Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP" <Rick at DJ0IP.de> wrote:
> 
> Hi Neil,
> 
> Yes, absolutely computer modeling.  I don't think I ever would have found
> that point by experimenting.
> It's not exactly 85/15... I think 83/17 or something like that.  I don't
> recall if the exact measurements are on my web site or not.  If not I can
> send them to you.  Pse write me directly:  Rick at dj0ip.de 
> 
> The modeling was done for me by DJ1AT.  He does all of my modeling for me.
> I'm a bit of a novice at modeling, he's very good.  When I get wild ideas, I
> ask him to model them and he gives me the results in short order.  Then I go
> to the field, build it, then first adjust the overall length and then begin
> moving the feedpoint one inch at a time.  I found the 80m quite quickly.
> Took a bit longer with my 40m OCFD.
> 
> Tip: If you want to build multiband antennas, don't full around with an
> MFJ-259B or similar.  Get yourself a scanning analyzer that can scan the
> entire hf spectrum in on go, such as the RigExpert AA-54.  You will save
> light-years of time that way.
> 
> I ran an extensive test on common mode current last summer.
> I found that the farther away from the center you move the feedpoint, the
> worse problems you get with common mode current. (duh).
> When you use such a radical split as I did, it is imperative that you use a
> good balun AND also a good 1:1 RF choke directly attached to the balun.  The
> balun should be dual-core with each transmission line wrapped on its own
> separate core.  In my case, my power level (600w) and with the antenna in
> the clear, a 1:1 Maxwell was good enough.  If more power or antenna located
> near other objects, it is better to use a 1:1 Guanella.
> 
> If you plan to run very high power, you should use 4 cores (piggy back two
> pairs) for your balun.
> Beware of people selling baluns.  Very few have any clue what they are doing
> and pass out bad advice.
> Best is to build your own. (cheapest too).
> 
> If you have never built any baluns, I suggest you begin by reading a couple
> of documents (in this order).
> 1) "Baluns:  what they do and how they do it."  By Roy, W7EL
> 2) "RFI Ham" by Jim, K9YC.  (read it 2 or 3 times, unless you're a lot
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec