Topband: 160m/80m duoband vertical question

[Victor A. Kean, Jr.]

On Tuesday, November 05, 2013 7:27:50 AM Jim Garland wrote:
> Is it workable to put an 80m 1/4 wave wire on
> the same mast join both antennas at the base, in the same way people make
> multiband fan dipoles?

Jim:

My 160 vertical is a 65 foot Tee (top wires are 70 plus some feet).  I added
80 meters with a parallel wire which has to fold back at the top making
an inverted L.  It works, but the bandwidth is very narrow, maybe 50 kHz.  I have
a total of 4 80 meter wires making a "cage" around the 160 meter vertical, each
wire tuned for a different segment of the band.  Conveniently, the lowest 
frequency wire at 80 meters has the same impedance as the 160 meter vertical
so no extra match effort is required.  The other wires don't quite get to the
right impedance, so an antenna tuner is required.

I would much rather have a separate, full sized 80 meter vertical.

Victor, K1LT