[TowerTalk] ICOM AH-4 Antenna Options...

[Bill Turner]

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On 6/16/2014 10:25 PM, Dino Darling wrote:
> My question is, what experience do you have using an auto tuner/coupler
> and different antenna configurations (dipole, OCF, long wire, etc). Any
> recommendations? Getting into the attic for multiple tests will be
> difficult so I'm looking for a solid starting point!

REPLY:

I had your situation some years ago and I found simple parallel dipoles 
worked fine. No tuner needed if you run the dipoles at a good angle from 
each other, at least 20 degrees or so. Got DXCC with that setup with 
just 100 watts.

And by the way, you don't need to "ground" your system at all, other 
than the third wire on the AC plug for safety reasons. A 60 foot ground 
wire is no ground at all because of standing waves. And even if you 
could, you don't want to run any of your precious RF through dirt. RF 
energy is expensive to generate and dirt is lossy at RF. Keep your RF up 
in the air where it belongs. :-)

73, Bill W6WRT
dezrat at outlook.com