[TowerTalk] 135' open wire fed dipole pattern

[Thomas F. Giella NZ4O]

For three years I ran a 135 foot all band doublet up at 35 feet and fed it with 300 ohm window line to a Johnson Viking Match Box for 80-10 meter coverage. It worked pretty good on all bands for DXing except on 80 and 40 meters where the takeoff angle was too high.

Then for one year I ran a fan doublet with elements on 80, 40, 20 and 10 meters up at 35 feet and fed with 300 ohm window line to the Johnson Viking Match Box for 80-10 meter coverage. It worked better on 40 meters for DXing.

Then I put up an 80 meter horizontal full wave loop. It is 285 feet of
#12 stranded and in a square shape. Each leg is 71.25 feet long and is fed
in the middle of the leg that is broad side N-S. The four corners are
orientated towards the NE, SE, SW, NW and is up at 35 feet in my oak trees.
It is fed with 300 ohm window line to the Johnson Viking Match
Box for 80-10 meter coverage.

I did an A-B comparison between the horizontal loop and 80-10 meter fan doublet between October 2008 and the present time and the loop has won every time on every band on DX and is also more quiet on receive. So I retired the doublet antenna.

Just my .09 due to inflation.

73 & GUD DX,
Thomas F. Giella, NZ4O
Lakeland, FL, USA
nz4o at arrl.net


NZ4O Amateur & SWL Radio Autobiography: http://www.nz4o.com