[TowerTalk] Twinlead- Zepp

Ian White G/GM3SEK gm3sek at ifwtech.co.uk
Fri Nov 4 03:01:17 EST 2005


Tom Osborne wrote:
> The most common is probably 'center fed zepp.'  Other names include 
>the 'tuned doublet' and 'dipole with tuned feeders.'"

That's about normal: given a choice of three names for something, radio 
amateurs will ALWAYS choose the one that creates the most confusion.

The original zeppelin antenna was intended to be trailed behind an 
airship, so it was definitively END-fed. More specifically, it was a 
half wave, end-fed through a quarter-wave of twin open-wire to keep high 
RF voltages away from all that hydrogen. In other words, it was a 
trailing J-pole.

Earthbound hams and others adapted this idea to make a horizontal 
antenna which was end-fed with mostly vertical open-wire... and OK, that 
is still recognizably a zepp. But then somebody tied a second wire to 
the open end of the feedline, and called it a "double zepp". Since this 
is the most confusing and inappropriate name imaginable, it's the one 
that hams have insisted on using ever since.

Let's get back to basics here: you're not using a zeppelin antenna 
unless your ham station (a) can fly, and (b) can go up in a fireball. 
That should narrow it down.



-- 
73 from Ian G/GM3SEK         'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek


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