[TowerTalk] Loop vs Dipole...I'm original "asker"

[Gene Smar]

Richards:

     I just re-read what I wrote in my last e-mail.  I must have been asleep.  The correct term for the antenna I'm suggesting is flat-top, not top-hat.  You won't find correct references in the Handbooks under the latter term, just the former.  Sorry for the misdirection.


73 de
Gene Smar  AD3F


From: Richards <jruing at ameritech.net>
Date: 2008/06/26 Thu PM 10:21:49 EDT
To: Gene Smar <ersmar at verizon.net>
Cc: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Loop vs Dipole...I'm original "asker"

EXCELLENT REPLY  -- Your ideas are mirrored in some other
replies I have received off list.  In fact, I am working on a plan like
that as an option.  I think I can install a 50 foot mast, braced against
my home, and get as much as 130 feet long for that top-hat antenna
you describe that should tune up 80 and up, and  160 as you describe.

I have an AlphaDelta DX-B single wire sloper that could be attached to
a tower, and uses the tower as a counterpoise, and the Yagi beam
as a capacity hat.  That is how it should work -- and I am told it works
OK that way - but I have it on a 25 foot mast with 7 assorted radials
(at the suggestion of AlphaDelta) and it ... well... how do you say...
sucks.

But I think your two ideas would give me an elegant solution.  Tower
plus sloper, and big doublet on a tuner.  That would be three simple
antennas that should cover all the bands.

THANKS  -- It is serious suggestions like yours, with specific ideas,
and not just saying stuff like,   "do a loop" or "you need a vertical
and radials"  that is helping me focus on some tangible solutions.

BTW -- I am fortunate in that I can afford most anything that works
well and the only support out in the yard is a kind of crooked tree
at one corner of the lot.  Otherwise, the trees on the other corner
are too wimpy and wispy to hold any real antenna.  I have considered
a 40 foot utility pole to hide in those trees to get my wire antennas up
higher than the mere 20 feet I now have on home made masts made
of fencing top rail.

ALSO -- parenthetically, you are the first to suggest my existing wires
are too close to each other and may be interacting.  No doubt there
is truth to this  even if it is a minor impact, there as GOT to be SOME
impact having them all out there and at the same general height.  Maybe
one or more are acting as reflectors / directors in some odd unwanted
manner...  Hmmm.....  gotta be.

Thanks for offering some CONCRETE suggestions I can use.


================   Richards - K8JHR  =================
Gene Smar wrote:
>> 
>     Obviously, I'm no expert on what YOU can put up at YOUR QTH.  I 
> can't visualize what supports you have available or can build or how 
> much $$ you have available for your hobby; that is always a 
> consideration for antenna selection.  But let me give you a few options 
> to consider.
> 
> 1.   Replace all your existing wire antennas with a top-hat antenna.  
>
> 2.   If you were serious about having a tower on your property (and you 
> have plenty of room for a self-supporter like a Trylon), then you can 
> install Yagis for 20 through 10M and use the tower itself as the 
> radiating element on 160 through 30M.  

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