[TowerTalk] Short Dipole for 40

[K7LXC at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/20/04 12:07:34 PM Pacific Daylight Time, k3bz at arrl.net 
writes:

> I would like to put up a lightweight dipole or maybe a 2L for 40M above my
>  3L SteppIR, but the XYL won't hear of any more trees being cut down, so I'm
>  limited to about a 20-foot turning radius. Researching the TT archives I
>  found mention of a "shorty forty" and further search uncovered a design
>  that's got 18.5-foot elements on either side of a center loading coil
>  (30-turn/2.5" dia.), fed direct with 50-ohm coax.  Has anyone got 
experience
>  with building and using something like this? Is it worth considering? What
>  would be the minimum acceptable separation above the SteppIR? Any better
>  alternatives?

    Sure. How about mounting the antenna at the top of one of your trees? 
Single trunked trees work very FB for yagi installations. I've installed a bunch 
of yagis - including 2L 40's - in trees over the years and they work like 
gangbusters - no steel tower, no guy wires; electrically they're floating in space!

Cheers,
Steve    K7LXC
TOWER TECH -
Professional tower services for commercial and amateur 
888-833-3104