Topband: Pennant working?

[K1ZM@aol.com]

Tom et al

Yes, the pennant is a vy vy quiet antenna.

Mine reacted that way until:

1) I inserted a Lance Johnson preamp out at the feedpoint 

AND

2) Employed (when necessary) an AMECO preamp inside the shack just before the 
FT1000D.

I find that in most cases, the single external preamp (10DB) - is okay MOST 
of the time.

Under certain band condx though, I like the second preamp in there (15DB) - 
with one step of Ft1000D attenuation engaged and the RF gain backed off to  
about 3PM on the clock dial.

The pennant is a high negative DBI gain antenna - without some help (eg- 
GAIN) via preamps, it will disappoint MOST 160M denizens.

Once I had the ability to selectively insert GAIN as needed, it started 
working well and I like it.

I use a PAIR of side by side PENNANTS - spaced 200 feet aimed at Europe.

Equal lengths of RG 58 coax (110 feet) go from the matching boxes of the 
pennants to a point in the center.  There I go into an AMIDON HDU 50 (2:1) 
UNUN to restore impedance matching from 25 ohms to 50 ohms - and then with RG 
6 quad shield (HOME DEPOT) coax into the shack.  The use of the UNUN allows 
me to use this system on both 80M and 160M.

The Lance Johnson preamp is on the shack side of the UNUN - and the indoor 
preamp is just before the input to my beverage switch.

I only use the two preamps on this specific antenna - my other beverages do 
not need the HELP.

BTW, my experience with 2 phased PENNANTS is that they work vy vy well on 80m 
especially - about like a single 800 foot beverage.  They come CLOSE to a 
single 580 footer on 160M - not quite there - but a hell of alot better than 
any OTHER small sized antenna (like a LOOP) that I have tried in a confined 
space.

73 JEFF

K1ZM@aol.com

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