[TowerTalk] Question on 80M 4-square amongst trees

[Dan Levin]

Bob wrote:

> You WILL see a significant low-swr bandwidth improvement
> by using aluminum tubing vs wire. NO COMPARISON!  I am
> all but convinced that the aluminum elements provide
> better F/B, F/S and forward gain, but I have never modeled that.

Remember, it is the effective diameter of the element that matters,
not (in this case) the material, or the fact that it is tubing
vs wire.  You can easily increase the
effective diameter of a wire antenna by simply using two
(or more) wires that are parallel to each other, spaced apart
by some distance (say 3-6"), and tied together electrically
(say with horizontal wires soldered between the two vertical ones)
every so often (say 3' or so).  L.B. Cebik has a nice discussion
of this on his web site, www.cebik.com .

                  ***dan, K6IF

See you all in the California QSO Party, 
October 4-5!