[TowerTalk] Carolina Windom

[WA9ALS - John]

> A ham has asked me to comment on the Radio Works Carolina Windom(cw).  I
> have one of these, and have used it for a couple of years, interchanged
with
> my G5RV and ladderline fed dipole.
>

I was afraid this antenna would come up in the thread on vertical
radiators - HI.  Considering the lengthy discussion about the G5RV, surely
there will be no end to it regarding the CW!  HI  I'm not sure ANYone really
knows how it works, exactly, but theories absolutely abound and have been
discussed in other forums.

I have the 265 ft version.  I will only comment that it works great (most
huge wire antennas would do pretty good).  It's a gangbuster on 160M.  I did
lose 2 of the "Dedicated Matching Units" (proprietary balun) - ?lightning
once, ?unknown the othr time, maybe too much power despite the specs.
Depending how it's suspended, it's not easy to use BIG coax to feed it.
Radio Works says that you can use RG-58 even at full power, but we know
that's stretching things a bit.  On my third DMU, I've limited my high duty
cycle power (RTTY) to 500W and haven't lost another.  (Replacing the DMU
with a rowboat is tricky!)

Mine initially had a 2:1 SWR EVERYWHERE in the 10-160 ham bands.  With
"age", I now need a tuner on some bands.  FOr the money and space
considerations, it's a great antenna, especially if you don't run too much
power or op heavy duty cycle.  I tune mine with the Nye-Viking.

IMHO, TT would not be the best forum to get into a looonnng thread about
whether it radiates vertically or not...  Doubt there's much proof out
there!  73




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