Topband: folded Marconi

[Roy Koeppe]

K7RX wrote...


"I recently took down my Alpha Delta DX-A twin sloper and want to put up
something different.  I am not quite ready to shunt feed my tower yet so
am looking at ideas for some sort of inverted L system.  In the distant
past, I ran folded Marconi antennas at different times as a novice on 80
and later on top band.  When I made these for top band I would begin
with about 130 feet of heavy duty twin lead.  At the bottom of the
vertical section I would feed one side with coax center and the other
with the braid and radials or counter poises.  I...(etc.)..."


Kevin,

There is nothing about a folded INV L that makes it worth the additional
effort over a single conductor piece of wire. Its radiation resistance
is the same, so ground loss is the same and any increase in bandwidth is
negligible. Use a radial ground system in either case. A small shunt
inductor at the feedpoint will provide a perfect match from coax to the
single wire element. I'm speaking quarter wave antennas.

73,   Roy     K6XK