[TowerTalk] Off Center Fed Antennas

[John Geiger]

Back when I first got on the air from my home QTH (we had a radio club at my 
junior high which I used for about a year before getting my own station), I 
had a Hy-Gain 14AVQ 40-10 meter vertical which I ground mounted.  Didn't use 
any radials, didn't know I really needed them.  Remember, I was a new novice 
and the internet wasn't around then.  I just drove a ground rod into the 
ground and attached part of the vertical to that.  Got DXCC plus using that 
antenna. I am convinced that it worked pretty well because I didn't know it 
wasn't supposed to work with that setup.  Had lots of fun with a couple of 
end fed random wires after the vertical as well.

73 John AF5CC

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Patrick Greenlee" <patrick_g at windstream.net>
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 9:04 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Off Center Fed Antennas


> When fishing not every lure or bait works well for everyone every time but 
> if you eliminate everything that isn't working 100% of the time for 100% 
> of the users what do you use, what is left?
>
> Recommending against a Carolina Windom or off center fed dipole because 
> sometimes they don't work well for some people in some situations seems 
> overly limiting.  Need a sure thing first time every time?  Try AT&T and a 
> corded phone.  an OCF dipole is just some wire 'n' stuff.  Let folks try 
> it without bias and if it doesn't please them then... it is mostly just 
> wire and it can be used to try a different configuration. For some folks 
> there is more to our hobby than shouting "CONTEST CQ CONTEST" or bragging 
> rights when your StepIR  up way over 100 ft driven by a full legal limit 
> (+) amp lets you break a pile up so you and someone where there aren't 
> many hams can shout 59 at each other.
>
> Patrick AF5CK
>
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Jim Brown
> Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 1:22 PM
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Off Center Fed Antennas
>
> On 6/4/2013 9:54 AM, Bill Ogden wrote:
>> It might be fair to say there are more environmental considerations for
>> these antennas than for a simple dipole or quarter-wave vertical.
>
> This is a good assessment, and is the basis for my advice to avoid them.
> Those environmental considerations are primarily 1) the proliferation of
> RF noise sources that the feedline then couples to the antenna, and 2)
> the proliferation of electronic equipment (including ham gear) that is
> susceptible to RFI.
>
> Long wires that end in the shack and most verticals suffer from the same
> issues, both because they are vertically polarized (and lots of noise is
> vertically polarized), and because they are closer to noisy and
> vulnerable equipment.
>
> My point about these off-center fed antennas is that if you can rig one
> of them, you could almost always rig a symmetrical antenna that will
> work as well or better. And if you can rig a resonant antenna, it will
> have a predictable pattern that you can make use of to get GAIN in one
> or more desired directions.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
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