[TowerTalk] End feeding a half-wave vetical

[Lee Crocker]

I have up end fed 1/2 wave vertical wire antennas.  I
use .4 wave or longer radials.  In my experience, long
term A/B comparison to 1/4 wave verticals over the
same ground field, and using the same feedline, the
1/2 wave is "marginally" but consistently better than
the 1/4 on longer haul (>4000 mi) paths.  By
"marginally" I mean 1-3 db at best.  The thing I found
remarkalbe is the consistency of its edge.  It was
virtually always a tiny bit better.   

The 1/2 wave is considerably more difficult to feed
and tune, and has a more restrictive bandwidth due to
the network.  If you are not going to go to the
trouble to develope a low loss efficient feed it is a
waste of time to use a half wave over a well built 1/4
wave vertical.  The 1/4 wave is easy to make work, and
requires no extra networks etc.  Both verticals need
good radial fields to work correctly.    

That being said I love my 1/2 wave vertical antennas. 
Call it a Marconian Romance.

73  W9OY    


		
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