[TowerTalk] 40M Beam Height

[Bill Hider, N3RR]

Tom,

That's fine, but I was merely questioning why he wanted to put the 40 at
125 ft instead of his stated maximum tower/mast height of 135 ft.  He's a
DXer, not a contester, so I felt that he isn't interested in a
"compromise" tower height location to work EU at sunset (as you correctly
describe below.). He can work this with a wire or has already got most of
EU confirmed. (Unlike constesters who need to work everything again and
again with each contest...)

Maybe his "125 feet" was a typo.  I was hoping to gleen that if that was
the case.

btw, the only time I use the lower antenna alone is during afternoon/early
evening EU openings.  The other times I use the stack (134/67) or split it
in two different azmiuths.

Bill, N3RR

T A RUSSELL wrote:

> "Question, why not put the 40 at 135 ft?  At that height it would be 1
> wavelength high and perform even better!!  I have my upper 40M beam at
> 134
> ft!  Check out my web site: http://www.erols.com/n3rr "
>
> 73
>
> Bill, N3RR
> ...................
>
> Bill (et. al.),
>
> Since you have stacked 40M beams, I'm sure you have found times
> when your LOW beam is better than the high one.  They will become
> even more prevalent as the sunspots increase.
>
> When W3LPL was at his old QTH, he had a 3L40 at 130 ft.  It didn't
> take him long to add another LOWER 2L40 beam at 65 ft. to improve
> his competitiveness during the afternoon / early evening openings
> which tend to peak at 20 to 30 degrees (or so) to Europe and Africa.
>
> When N4ZC had only one 40M beam, a 4L  KLM at 130 ft, he used
> to curse all of the guys with lower "shortie forties" who would beat
> him out consistently before sunset.  He now has a LOW beam to
> solve that problem.
>
> IMHO, 80 to 100 ft is optimum for the evening openings.
>
> The HIGH 40M beams (150 to 200 ft) pay off during the early
> morning hours and on the skew path (SSW) to SE Asia
> around sunrise.
>
> After sunrise, the JA's are easily worked with 80 to 100 ft high
> antennas, peaking about 30 minutes past sunrise and sometimes
> lasting until 3 hours past sunrise. ( I once worked V85   3  hours
> past my sunrise, with a good 559 signal, on my 2L40 at 95 ft. )
>
> My first 300 countries on 40M were worked with rotary dipoles
> at 80 ft.  Since adding fixed wire beams, and later a CC 2L40
> at 95 ft., I have worked all countries except   A5,  BS7H, BV9P,
> and P5 on 40 meters.
>
> Starting from scratch, I would recommend stacked 2L40's at
> 160 / 80 ft. as possibly the most cost effective approach for
> gain and flexibility. These heights give the maximum stacking
> gain for 2L40's and can be implemented with Rohn 45 tower
> guyed every 40 ft.   An upper / lower / both switch box is desirable.
>
> If  F/B is important to you, then 3 elements will provide the
> desired pattern but at considerably higher antenna, rotor,
> and tower costs.
>
> de  Tom  N4KG
>
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