[TowerTalk] TDR recommendations?

[donovanf at starpower.net]

Howard,

Although I have no SteppIRs in my antenna farm, my old Hewlett Packard
TDR is the most frequently used test equipment in my hamshack.   Unfortunately, I'm certain that a TDR will not be able to reliably
measure the length of your driven elements. It definitely will not be able to measure the lengths of your parasitic elements.  

A good TDR works well with an HF antenna connected to the end of the
feedline. TDRs are wonderful tools for discovering problems in
transmission lines and connectors and for precisely measuring the
length of transmission lines. A TDR can also see the T- matches and 1/2
wave coax balun at the driven element of my Yagis. This allows me to
quickly assess the condition of all of my feedlines and T-matches from
the comfort of my hamshack.  

A TDR is also a great tool for assessing the condition of Beverage antennas and their feedlines, without walking miles out in the fields to visually inspect the Beverages.  The TDR can detect problems in the
feedline. matching transformer, the entire length of the Beverage (its
just a very lossy transmission line) and the termination resistor.

73!
Frank
W3LPL

---- Original message ----
>Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2007 14:15:15 +0000
>From: "Howard Klein" <howk2 at hotmail.com>  
>Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] TDR recommendations?  
>To: towertalk at contesting.com
>
>First thank you to all for the responses. Perhaps I have this all wrong but 
>my plan was/is to phase two 4 el SteppIR's. I have the means to make the 
>transmission lines electrically equal but thought if I could  see the 2 
>antenna traces superimposed I could adjust the elements from the shack on 
>each band as needed. Does this make sense?
>Howard..KHK