Topband: Pennant antenna

[K1ZM@aol.com]

Hi Guys

I agree fully that with Pennants, a preamp (or two!) is an absolute 
requirement.

For my two in-phase pennants on Cape Cod I have:

1) An Elbert County Preamp (ECP-1 from Lance Johnson) at the TEE pairing up 
the two antennas.  Actually, there is FIRST an Amidon Unun at the TEE to 
transform 25 ohms from the two pennants in phase back up to 50ohms - then the 
preamp is connected on the RX side of the UNUN.

The UNUN also preserves impedance transformation not only on 160M but also on 
80m - and its use was selected RATHER than simple 1/4 wave 75 ohm coaxial 
impedance matching - which would have made my phased PENNANTS 
single-bandspecific - rather than broad-banded 160m-40m inclusive - which is 
what I get with the UNUN (and is far more desirable, IMHO).

2) A separate 10DB preamp inside the shack before the antenna goes into my 
"beverage box switch"

3) A third preamp in series with the one inside the shack - which gets 
switched in quite frequently.

The resulting gain if you are following this is:

a) 10 DB outside
b) 10 DB inside

20 db typical MOST of the time

30DB typical SOME of the time

Without the preamps, a pennant is pretty much totally DEAF - but with 
suitable gain, they perform about as follows:

A) On 160m - about the same as a 500 foot single beverage
B) On 80M - about the same as a single 1000 foot beverage

I am quite impressed with this simple antenna - it is one of the very FEW 
small-sized antennas I have ever tried on 160M that REALLY WORKS!  But 
without the preamp gain, it is quite a POOR listening antenna.

Hope this helps.

73 JEFF

K1ZM@aol.com


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