[TowerTalk] Optimum Height for 10M Beam

[Bruce Richards]

"Dick Green". wrote:
> 
> I recall seeing some posts a while back about the optimum height for a 10M
> beam, but I don't recall what it was. Can anybody refresh my memory? I'm
> thinking about doing the ARRL 10M contest. I've got a TH7 on a 70-foot
> crankup, so it's an easy task to set the tower to whatever height would be
> best for 10M. I tried to get a feel for this in CQWW CW, but signals were
> fading in and out so it was hard to tell. It *seemed* like 10M signals were
> noticably stronger with the beam around 50 feet instead of 70 feet, but that
> could be my imagination. Any thoughts? Is there a way to model this?
> 
> BTW, the bottom of the tower is on a hill about 25-30 feet below the height
> of land. That puts the tribander about level with the top of the hill when
> the tower is cranked all the way down to about 25 feet. The hill slopes
> steeply up behind the tower in an easterly direction, from about due east to
> about due south. It rises the 25-30 feet in about 200 feet of horizontal. In
> the other directions, the hill slopes down from the tower, steeply at first,
> losing a total of 400 feet of vertical in about 1200 feet horizontal until
> it hits the Connecticut River. This leaves the horizon  wide open in all the
> other compass directions.
> 
> Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
> 
> 73, Dick, WC1M
> 
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Hello Dick. I have been operating 10m for many years and have found
that there is no perfect height. The only solution is stacks.
At this time I am using a single 7 element monobander at 90 feet. This
plays very well for long haul DX, but has proven to high for some of 
the closer stuff. I have been beaten very bad many times in pile ups 
to close stuff like KP5 and KP1 by guys using 3 elements at 40 feet.
But thats a book of another color when the DX is in another continent.

I am almost always in the heat of the battle at the first of a
DXpedition, and almost always have it in the log the 1-2 day.
This new cycle is coming up very nice now and you should have many 
contacts to AF, EU, and the Pacific, and some in to the Indian Ocean.
For theses openings you will need more than a 3 ele at 40 feet.  The
only solution is a 3 element at 35-40 feet and the other up at the top.
In your case, I would hang a 3 ele to the Caribbean at 40 feet at crank
the tower all the way up. 
Hope to work you in the Contest......Bruce
 
-- 
--------------------------------------------------
Bruce Richards / WD4NGB (No Good Bum)  (ex HL9JV)
DX Web Page http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/wd4ngb
50 Miles North West of Nashville Tn

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