[TowerTalk] WARC antennas

[T A RUSSELL]

WARC  Antennas  de  N4KG

One of my favorite subjects!

First off, a LEVEL (or nearly level) 80M dipole makes a great LW antenna
for all three WARC bands, in the diredtion of the main lobes
(approximately
30 degrees either side of the wire, at both ends) plus some narrow lobes 
in between.  An 80M CW dipole is roughtly 3/2 wavelengths on 30m, 
exactly 5/2 WL on 17M, and exactly 7/2 WL on 12M, presenting
approximately
100 ohms at the feedpoint.  My 75 ohm fed 80M dipole presents a 3:1 SWR
on 30M (use a tuner if you are squemish or have a solid state exciter),
and
under 2:1 on 17 and 12M.

My FAVORITE WARC antenna is a 20M dipole fed with ladder line.  It has
a figure 8 pattern from 10 through 30 meters, varying from 50 degrees
wide
on Ten to 90 degrees wide on 30M.

Using only a pair of 80M dipoles and high band dipoles, I have managed to
work over 290 countries on 12 and 30, and over 300+ on 17M.  It has been
a fun learning experience in both propagation and antennas!

If you prefer aluminum antennas, 
the Cushcraft D3W is a nice 3 band dipole for 12/17/30M.  There are
several
good 3 element Yagis for 12 and 17M from Cushcraft, HyGain, and Mosley.
Force 12 and  HyGain make some nice longer boom monobanders.

BTW, your 402CD will work well as a rotary dipole on 17M with under 
a 2:1 SWR.  It can even be used on 12M but the SWR is higher.  Place
a 12 and 17 M reflector behind the driven element, and you have a 2L
Yagi for those two bands!

73 / GL de  Tom  N4KG
............................

On Sat, 1 Nov 1997 18:10:58 +0000 "Barry Kutner" <w2up@itw.com> writes:
>After many years of ignoring the WARC bands, I'm considering getting 
>a "real" antenna for them (meaning not finding which of 160, 80 or 40 
>works best at that moment). A few questions:
>1. Is there one multi-band antenna that you would recommend?
>and more importantly,
>2. My present 75 ft tower has phased TH7s at 40 (on TIC ring) and 76 
>ft, a 40-2CD at 85 ft (both on mast at top), and a bunch of slopers 
>and misc. wires for 80 and 160. Is there a place on the tower for a 
>WARC multi-band antenna without screwing up the "regular" bands? If 
>not, other suggestions welcome (short of putting up another tower!)
>73 Barry
>
>--
>Barry Kutner, W2UP              Internet: w2up@itw.com
>Newtown, PA         FRC         alternate: barry@w2up.wells.com
>
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