[TowerTalk] Remote Tuner with ZS66BKW or OCF Dipole

[Patrick Greenlee]

On 7/27/2015 12:41 AM, Jim Brown wrote:
> ...  Yes, it is possible to make a dipole like this "work" on all 
> bands, but as N6BT has shown by working all continents on a light 
> bulb, almost anything "works." The questions are "how well does it 
> work," and "are there other simple antennas that work better."  The 
> answer to the first is "not very well," and to the second, a well 
> designed vertical on a roof or one or more multiband resonant fan 
> dipoles  will outperform it.  The vertical may be equally noisy, but 
> the fan dipoles will be much quieter because they can be effectively 
> choked.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC

I have experimented with various OCF dipoles, and a couple fans and none 
have consistently outperformed a Hy-Gain Hy-Tower multi band vertical. 
My current Carolina Windom OCF dipole is about 90 ft on one leg and 180 
ft on the other and uses two baluns, one at the top and one at the 
bottom of the vertical coax feeder (part of the radiating system.)  The 
vertical is mounted atop a metal barn and has no radials. This vertical 
has no traps as it uses stubs to get the bands.

I don't do many A-B comparisons between the OCF dipole and the vertical 
anymore, having seen the results so many times before. Rarely does the 
dipole win a shootout by much margin.  results are close but the 
vertical usually does a little better.  One solid exception is 
contacting a friend 120 air miles away.  Sorry, senior moment (CRS), I 
don't recall the band but the OCF worked him well and the vertical was 
useless.  We chalked it up to takeoff angle. This result is repeatable.

Patrick   NJ5G