Topband: Multiple Beverage Switchbox

[Wolfert, William R.]

Gentlemen

 

I checked the Archives for an answer to this question (Feeding Multiple
Beverages) and just found that 2 prominent TB'ers disagree. That's OK,
but leaves the question unanswered. W8JI says don't switch grounds, bond
them all together; and ON4UN says switch both center conductor and
ground. Here's my setup. I'm putting 6 single wire beverages in the back
field. At the feed points the antenna ground is through the transformer
and the coax is not grounded (everybody agrees on this). A common mode
choke is at the coax feed point. These coax feeds terminate at the
switchbox located at the front center of the field. The feed lines are
from 160' to 525' long (I wished my field was 2000' square, but it's
not!). At the switchbox, do you (all of you TB'ers, that is) bond the
coax shields or switch them. In LBDX, ON4UN shows the best method (of 5
he illustrated) is to switch the individual antenna coax to the shack
feed. The 5 unused directions float. I know many; many of you are
switching multiple beverages. What is your experience?

 

Thanks and 73, 

Bill WR8K