[TenTec] Opinions sought re OMNI VI

[Stuart Rohre]

John,
I think you are on the correct track to pick a rig like the Omni VI.

What is the construction material of the building where you were going 
to put the attic antenna?

If it is wood frame construction, I have had many hours of pleasure and 
some round the world DX when the sunspots are at play in just such an 
attic.  The antenna I put into the attic of my single story house is a 3 
band dipole array, with one common coax feeder thru a balun.  The 20 
meter dipole is along the ridge pole of the roof.  Fanned out below it 
are the 15 meter and 10 meter dipoles.  There was plenty of room to 
string the 20 meter in a straight dipole line.  And enough height to 
angle down the two other dipoles.  The balun is also the center point of 
the antenna, and anchors the six dipole legs at the feed point.

In my case, cutting the 3 dipoles to formula (468/f MHz) resulted in the 
20 m attic resonance being below the bottom of the band at 13 Mhz 
instead of 14.250, for example.  You can calculate what percentage you 
are off, or easier still, just fold back the wire ends onto themselves 
until you get the resonant point where you wish it.

I used 16 gauge enameled copper for the 20m, and no. 20 wire for the 
other two dipoles.  Thus if you use differing wires, you may be 
correcting for inside the roof effects as well as wire diameters.

I have metal ducts for air conditioning from a common plenum about five 
feet from the center of dipoles legs on one side.  That may be affecting 
my length as well. Two ducts run under the dipoles and parallel.  It is 
easy to get closer matched, and then let the internal tuner do the rest. 
  Since my shack is central in the house, it is a direct, short coax 
drop into a closet thru its ceiling, and then out a baseboard outlet for 
the coax to the operating desk. The coax is 50 ohm, RG 8x.  (RG 58 would 
do for my 100 watt radios, but 8X is lower loss per foot. I probably 
have about 15 feet of feed line.

If your attic ridge is higher pitch roof, you should do even better than 
I have.

-Stuart Rohre
K5KVH