Topband: Antenna Arsenals

[Dennis OConnor]

Eddie,
  Let me urge you to find another spool of wire so you can make a reflector underneath the dipole just off the ground... Now there is a real cloud burner...
   
  Case in point:  Field day - at my farm... We put up an 80m horizontal loop at 30 feet (more or less) with the help of a couple of friendly trees and some spare sections of 25G and rope for guys...  While we were waiting for starting time the guys asked me if there was any way to improve the performance on 80 meters... I suggested a reflector underneath... So, I dug up more wire and some wood stakes and put another loop, a foot off the ground, directly under the antenna...
  Field day went well - lots of fun, 2 smoked amplifiers and one smoked generator, lots of coffee and sandwiches, and baloney... About 30 minutes before the end of the contest I decided to start cleaning things up and went out in the field and unclamped the ends of the reflector loop (it bit the heck out of me when the guys keyed the amp just as I was unscrewing the split bolt)... I started rolling up the reflector... It only took about 60 seconds and a couple of heads popped out the door of the travel trailer plaintively asking, "Did you do something?  We had a pile up going and it just quit."  So, I quickly unrolled the wire and bolted the ends back together (ow, ouch, dammit, hey let me get finished here!) and within a couple of minutes they had a pile up again...
   
  denny - 
  everything I know about antennas - I have forgotten for I have Al Whatshizname disease...

       
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