Topband: 160m dipole help wanted

Terry Conboy n6ry at arrl.net
Mon Nov 24 20:09:21 EST 2008


At 03:54 AM 2008-11-24, Brad Anbro N9EN wrote:
>I was wondering about putting up a "low" dipole for 160m,
>running the dipole between my 2 towers at a height of 70'
>but the distance between the towers is not great enough
>for a full-length dipole. I'm guessing that the distance I
>have to work with is about 220' and was wanting to put
>up a "low" dipole to work state-side stations in the
>various contests.

Even easier than loading coils would be to just bend the ends of a 
full sized dipole down to fit the space available.  You may want to 
pull the ends away from the towers somewhat, either to the side or 
slightly back toward the center of the dipole.  The bandwidth and 
efficiency will probably be better than with loading coils, and the 
effect on the cloud warming pattern should be minimal.

However, one benefit of using loading coils it that they usually 
cause the harmonic resonances to be outside of the 80m and 40m bands, 
if you are concerned about coupling and pattern distortion of yagis, etc.

73, Terry N6RY



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