[TowerTalk] Gotham Antennas

Van K7VS wa7fab at cdsnet.net
Wed Jan 25 21:33:28 EST 2006


Well, I owned both the vertical and their two element quad.  The vertical
was a couple of ten, maybe twelve foot sections of aluminum tubing with one
piece sliding into the other.  You mounted with a couple of metal emt c type
screw in clamps to attach the aluminum tubing to a five foot 2x4 (you
supplied) that was pounded in the ground and they sent along about 8 inches
of 10 turns per inch B&W coil stock.   One end which was attached to the
bottom of the aluminum tubing about a foot and a half off the ground.  You
fed it with a piece of coax against a ground rod.  Again you supplied and
pounded into the ground next to the 2x4.  Then a a piece of wire with an
alligator clip attached to the bottom of the coil also, which you used to
"tune" the antenna depending on what band you wanted to operate on.  I
fondly remember running back and forth from the shack to the antenna trying
to get coil setting correct to resonate the antenna on twenty meters.  I
tuckered me out!

I was always intrigued by their little ad in QST promising me 100 countries
in one month!  Or whatever the ad suggested I was going to work.  HI HI.
Gave up and bought a tower and put one of their quads, which was simply four
bamboo spreaders probably shelacked  (sp), an eight foot aluminum boom, some
kind of cockamamey balun and a spool of wire.  Worked pretty good until a
snow storm with wet snow broke the bamboo spreaders the Friday before ARRL
DX Contest in 1967.  I still remember how devestated I was missing the
contest that year!.  Van, K7VS (WA7FAB and XZ0A member in Myanmar)



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