[TowerTalk] hardwired 20M stack

[John Langdon]

When I first put up my stacks I struggled with this.  I was told that 90% or
more of the time "all" would be best.  My experience is that it is 75% for
DXing, and 80% or so for contesting.  It can really help to work a close in
multiplier to just have the lower antenna on.  Also, when running a pileup,
alternating from lower to upper can help make one caller "pop out" from
several equal ones on the stack combination.  I also find that during the
"almost dead" time around local noon the lower antenna consistently does
better in working multipliers S&P.  If you have a fixed low tribander to use
for the Caribbean and South America, it may not be a big deal.  But the key
for me is being able to "spray" in two different directions at once.  If you
have modeled your spacing and height and do not see problems when pointing
in two different directions, that would decide it for me.

73 John N5CQ


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
[mailto:owner-towertalk@contesting.com]On Behalf Of KI7WX@aol.com
Sent: Sunday, October 01, 2000 10:05 AM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] hardwired 20M stack


Hi folks,

Quick question for stack users.  I'm erecting 4/4 on 20M, 105/50 feet using
M2 20M4DX yagis.  I am seriously considering just hardwiring them together
with a "T" connector using 75 ohm matching sections. For DX contests the
lower antenna will be fixed Europe and I'll spin it around fixed NW for
domestic events.  Top rotates 360 degrees.

My question is for the folks running this type of array with U/L/B switching
-  Just how often do you find the switching capacity to be useful?  From the
West coast there were only a few times I found any single antenna to be
better than the stack (mostly on 10M, very rarely on 15M) and from across
town at AA4NC running stacked 204BAs on 20M I really can't recall anytime
when one was better than both.  Curious if that mirrors the experience of
others running monoband stacks.

Mark
KI7WX/4

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