[TowerTalk] B&W Folded Dipoles Recommended?

[John Silberman]

B & W makes some really good antennas, HOWEVER>>> as you know all multi-band antenna are one trade off or another.  The way B & W gets that folded dipole to play on all bands with less than
2:1 SWR is their matching unit, located across from the feed, is an approximately 600 ohm load of sorts. 300 ohm ant...600ohm load...2:1 SWR.  over simplified.  Does it work, yes. However,
depending on the freq. much ot your signal is being eaten up by the matching unit and not transmitted, and boy does it get hot.  If you like the design, you can build it yourself for much
less money.  Personally, I put it with the antenna coupler that came out years ago, the guy sold tons of them, even to the military, 1:1.1 SWR, just add your random wire.  Turned out to be
a 50 ohm load to which you hang your wire on the hot end.  Someone unpotted the thing and found bits of PCB and components but the only thing attached to the coax was the load. Clever. Did
it work? Yes. efficient? You be the judge. As for G5RVs.  Today, there are more types of G5s than Carter has liver pills.  Before you give up on it, do some research, and you may be able to
modify yours to perform better.  Start by reading about Varney and the original G5RV.  Many people try to make the antenna do things it wasn't originally designed for. I'm too long winded.
GL

P.S. Do I need a flame suit now?



Dino Darling wrote:

> Hello Folks!  I'm looking at the 90' version of the folded dipole antenna
> made by B&W for Navy MARS use.  This would replace my HORRIBLE Van Gordon
> G5RV (I guess everyone needs to try one to believe they are as bad as they
> say).
>
> I know Radio Works has their Carolina Windom too.  Any recommendations
> would be highly appreciated!
>
> Dino...k6rix at earthlink.net
>
> Because of problems with the "ARRL.NET" forwarding system and Earthlink,
> I have abandoned that service.  Please REMOVE "k6rix at arrl.net" from your
> address book and replace with "k6rix at earthlink.net"  Thank You!
>
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