[TowerTalk] 80 meter quad loops

[Jim Lux]

At 05:28 AM 11/4/2005, Cqtestk4xs at aol.com wrote:
>For the last few years I have been using four sets of rope supported quads..a
>two element facing JA, a two element facing VK, a two element facing SA, and
>a four element facing EU.  All are tuned for the SSB part of the band.
>
>To operate CW contests, I lower the ends of the ropes supporting them screw
>in the extra pieces of wire, and raise them again.  It's a pretty simple 
>method
>but it doesn't solve the day to day excursions into the CW band.
>
>The loops are actually flattop delta loops so the pointed end faces toward
>the ground.  The ends either have coax at the bottom or a rope at the 
>bottom to
>keep it from blowing around.
>So what I would like to do is to put a relay and a coil at the bottom of each
>element to make the element resonant around 3725.  They are currently
>resonant around 3775.


What about making the reflector longer, and then switching in a capacitor 
to make it electrically smaller.  Much easier to get an adjustable 
capacitor than an inductor.  One could  potentially just hang a short piece 
of coax or twinlead off there and trim it back until the tuning is right.
Jim