[TenTec] OT: The problem with Fan Dipoles

Marsh Stewart marsh at ka5m.net
Tue May 27 07:39:10 EDT 2014


"They (Fan Dipoles) are certainly less ugly than a big Yagi or quad."

Well, remember that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". To me a big Yagi
is a thing of great beauty, and awesome to behold. 

73,
Marsh, KA5M

-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim Brown
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2014 8:28 PM
To: tentec at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TenTec] OT: The problem with Fan Dipoles

On 5/24/2014 2:33 AM, Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP wrote:
> The "Fan Dipole" is one of the worst antennas there is . . .  in the eyes
of
> the neighbors.
> Regardless of its technical characteristics, the neighbors think "it's
ugly
> and destroys the value of the neighborhood property."  That's their
biggest
> disadvantage.

That varies with your neighborhood, your neighbors, and how you build 
it. They are certainly less ugly than a big Yagi or quad. And it's also 
possible to build fan dipoles with reduced visibility by using smaller 
wire for the shorter elements and smaller diameter spacers. Likewise, 
high impedance open wire line can be done very well with a pair of 
enameled wires and small spacers.

Somewhere on my website are photos of the hillbilly antenna farm on my 
Chicago house. I never had a single complaint from anyone about it. Yes, 
people did occasionally pause as they walked down the street and stare 
at it, and our governor at the time (who is currently in prison for 
bribery) used to jog by every week or two accompanied by bodyguards on 
bicycles.

When I moved to CA in 2006, I sold that house to the couple who had been 
my tenants for ten years or so. I took down the ham antennas, but two 
yagis, one for TV and one for FM, were still there when I drove by last 
year.

My fan dipoles are up 120 ft, so I'm using #9 bare hard drawn copper for 
the long element that has the stress on it, and #14 house wire for the 
shorter elements. For an antenna that was lower, and thus didn't have to 
support as much coax (I feed them with RG11), wire sizes could be 
reduced to #14 for the long element, #18 for the shorter one(s). My high 
fans use 1/2-in PVC conduit as spacers, but that lower dipole could 
easily be built with clear plastic, or lexan dowels, or even wood dowels 
of much smaller diameter. If the antenna isn't very high and run is 
fairly short, you can use smaller diameter coax to reduce weight and 
visibility.

An important thing I learned working in theater and with architects is 
that stuff that is pretty big looks a lot smaller when it's 50 ft up in 
the air.

Yes, a single wire dipole to work all bands is "easy," but easy doesn't 
always get you through the pileups to work the rare DX, make contesting 
fun, or let you be heard by your buddies on 75M. It takes "good" to do 
that.

73, Jim K9YC






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