[TowerTalk] 80M Inverted V - CW and SSB

[Bryan Swadener]

Hi Doug,
 
I use a 4-wire cage inverted vee that covers the ENTIRE 80m band quite nicely.
There is a free program on smeter.net that can be used to design a cage
dipole. Mine (24" diameter) supposedly has 316 KHz 2:1 VSWR BW but,
my reality is just about 500 KHz. I have the apex at 70 feet, and the
ends at around 35 feet AGL.
 
I cut mine a bit long, and it's very close to 1:1 at the low end of the band.
At 4000 KHz, it's just barely 2:1.  I almost trimmed it but I don't spend a lot
of time above 3900 KHz, so I left it as-is.
 
My spreaders are made from thinwall (lightweight) 1/2" PVC tubing + crosses
and I use 14 ga 168 strand Flex-Weave copper wire (Davis RF).  I don't use
a balun because I drive the feedline as a vertical on 160m, using a SPDT 
vacuum relay at the bottom end of the feedline, just the other side of my
feedline ground buss.
 
Your mileage may vary.
 
vy 73,
Bryan WA7PRC


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Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 05:50:41 -0400
From: Doug Scribner
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] 80M Inverted V - CW and SSB

After completing my newest tower, 66 feet of Rohn 45,
I added an 80 Meter Inverted V @ 62 feet. 

I'd like to find a quick way to switch between the CW and
Phone portions of the band. I know I could just set it for
SSB and then add a short section to each leg for CW and
that works for dedicated contests but is a little inconvenient
for everyday use.

Short of using a tuner are there any suggestions?

TU...

Doug - K1ZO