[TowerTalk] Dipole Longer or higher?

[Jim Brown]

On Mon, 14 Feb 2005 23:30:35 -0600, Derek Cohn/WB0TUA wrote:

>Would I be better off adding wire to the antenna or having the 
ends
> higher in the air.  I primarily operate 80, 40, 30, and 20 CW.
> Any advice?

I am a huge fan of 3-wire dipoles fed with 50 or 75 coax, where 
there is a center insulator (and balun) and 3-resonant dipoles 
attached to it. See the ARRL handbook for details. Cut each dipole 
for the same length you would as if it were the only one there. I 
made spacers by simply cutting 1/2" PVC conduit into 15" lengths 
and drilling holes in each spacer roughly 3/4" from each end at at 
the center. For wire, go to Home Depot or your favorite electrical 
supply store. 

A 3-wire dipole cut for 80, 40, and 20 will work quite well on 30 
and 15 meters. I suspect it will also work on 17, but I'm only 
guessing about that.

There's a photo of 3-wire dipole cut for 20, 15, and 10 at the 
following link (5th photo on the page):

http://audiosystemsgroup.com/K9YC/k9ycant.htm  

I've used this antenna and another like it on Field Day, and it 
worked very well (we were #3 in 3A, and #16 in all categories). I 
have a 160/80/40 version of it at W6BX, and had another one there 
for 40/30/20 that we lost due to vandalism that also worked quite 
well, and that we'll reinstall when we have time. 

Jim Brown  K9YC