Topband: Looking for user experience: DXEngineering Thunderbolt 160m vertical

[MU 4CX250B]

Hi David,
I live in a windy area with 100km frequent wind gusts in the spring. I
bought a DXE heavy duty 80m self-supporting tilt-over vertical on the
advice of a professional tower guy. It was expensive and the assembly took
a couple of days, but the result was worth it. It seemed built to mil-spec
standards, with heavy aluminum tubing, heavy stainless steel hardware, and
heavy duty winch. I have since added a base loading coil and remote vacuum
relay to convert it to a duo-band 80m/160m antenna with 60 120ft radials.
It takes five minutes to crank over. Here’s the web link:

https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-7580fs-va-
<https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-7580fs-va-3>3
73,
Jim w8zr

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 5, 2020, at 6:37 AM, David Aslin G3WGN <david at aslinvc.com> wrote:

I'm building a contest station and the time has come to make a choice of
160m TX antenna. Looking at DXE Thunderbolt I note that the capacity hat
extends to a significant distance down the vertical section. It's my
understanding that will shield some of the radiation from the upper part of
the vertical. Alternatives like a vertical tee would not have this issue.
Is my understanding correct?

I'm considering a commercial antenna as high strength telescoping antenna
tubing is unobtanium in UK.  My QTH is an exposed windy location so
strength matters!
73, David G3WGN M6O



Sent from my Galaxy

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