[TowerTalk] OCT. CQ Antenna article

[Gareth Crispell]

MarchandJohn wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I hope this antenna run-down isn't too boring or out of line....
> 
> **DISCLAIMER- This is NOT a precise antenna review by any means!!**
> 
> Was reading thru the October issue of CQ and came across the article on
> P. 24 by Paul Carr-N4PC, ---
>      "My 40 Meter Double-Extended Zepp antenna Shows Its Versatility"
> 
> Its basically a 178-180' (not critical) wire antenna fed with open wire line...
> with a little bit of gain that gets you on 160-10m with a decent signal.
> 
>  [The key words here are: "It gets you on 160-10m with a decent signal!"
>   and thats what its all about!]
> 
> So, after doing all my yard work (and missing the Pats game) I decided to
> build one of these antennas to replace the homebrew G5RV type antenna I had
> up for a few contest seasons.
> 
> I installed the antenna as an inverted vee with the center up at about 65 ft.
> in a tree on the corner of my 1/4 acre (100' x 100') lot, with each 89 ft leg running down the lot lines at 90 degrees. The ends are at 8 feet off the ground.
> 
> The center insulator is an old Teflon type end insulator I had in the box.
> I used about 50 feet of 450 ohm ladder line which I ran down to a W2AU 1:1 balun (from the old ant.) and attached about 30 feet of RG-213 coax into the tuner in the shack.
> 
> Initial tests were on 160-10 with the (fast) auto tuner in the FT-990.
> 
> It was hearing a LOT better than the old wire antenna (even on the WARC bands).
> It looks like the local noise was also lower as compared to the old antenna too.
> 
> Since its a non-resonant type antenna, I used the auto tuner on all bands -and
> just like Paul said - the tuner had NO trouble matching the Zepp on any band.
> (Also ran it thru the manual tuner and made a tuning chart for all the bands)
> 
> I decided to try it out on CW (my favorite), and ssb on the Pa QSO Party and
> made about 40 contacts running about 10 watts to see how the antenna performs
> (for the SS-CW & CQWW CW/QRP). Every contact was on 1 or 2 calls and no repeats.
> I worked the contest on 160-20 and EVERYONE was loud! I worked anyone I could
> hear. Running QRP on 80 and 160 isn't great in contests for me, but I think
> this antenna will improve my score, especially on 160 where I have had little
> success at best.
> 
> All in all, the antenna looks promising (even for hams with limited space---
> where you can shorten the antenna to work on 80-10 and still get good results.)
> 
> With only one days testing, it shows promise. I think I'll keep this thing up for a while and try it out in the various contests before the CQ World War-CW.
> I may even put the boots to it, run 100 watts and really push the envelope ;-)
> 
> Thanks for putting up with my ramblings.
> 
> 73,
> John K1RC
> (ex K1CGJ)

I built one of these antennas in December 1992 and by the time I
finished it had begun snowing hard. I have built dozens of wire antennas
and this was one of the best all around skyhooks. By the way, if you are
a tad short on real estate you can bend the last 30 or 40 feet up to 90
degrees in a fat U or a military Z with almost zero loss in performance.
It is really the first 60 or so feet from the feedpoint on each leg that
does the "cooking"

73    de.... N1MSV

-- 
                                                           
                                      
                                                      
.....at the dawn of the New Age of Man,                  
     they will abide with us.                          
     Their glory and fire will burn like            
     sparks among the stubble!                       
                                                         
 Gareth

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