Topband: Robert Tail Antenna

[Ed Swynar]

Good Morning All,

Well, I spent the better part of the late morning/early afternoon yesterday casting a discarded window crank(!) weight off of my '78 Trans Am into a tree of choice, with my Zebco 33 spincast rod & reel...when I was finished, I ended-up with a second inverted "L" antenna here, spaced 1/2-wavelength from the first, and phased in the style of the Robert Tail Array (see "ARRL ANTENNA COMPENDIUM", volume 2).

The results of this adventure in the snow out back were apparently well worth the effort...whether the bulk of the credit goes to conditions, or to the added element, is a matter of debate, but when the dust settled down early this morning, here's what 2+ hours of hunting & pecking on the band yielded me in terms of QSOs:

DL2MDZ, LY2ZZ, PJ2/WB9Z, DL5RBW, S59A, IV3PRK, OM5RW, T77C, OE2BZL, DL7ZZ, OK2ZV, LA5HE, SM4CAN, OZ1DD, SM7GIB, F6ACD, G3JMJ, G3XGC, G4BYG, CT1FJK, LA5LJA, G3ITH. and VK6ABL...

Many thanks to all who took the time to work me...

The array is oriented north-south, beaming a bi-directional east-west pattern. The beauty of the system is its simplicity: NO long runs of coaxial cable phasing line to both elements, and NO elabortate ground radial system need under the second element. 

I shall continue evaluating.

I always wondered how a three element classic Bobtail array might play on 160-meters --- this is about as close as I've managed to get (so far!).

~73~ Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ