[VHFcontesting] [VHF] Some 432MHz Questions

[James Duffey]

A stack of Big Wheels would do well. Two will be a great improvement  
over a single eggbeater, and four will be even better. Stack them at  
0.75 spacing. You probably want to space them a wavelength or more  
away from the tower, but at 70 cm that is pretty small and the load is  
light. You will also suffer some attenuation in the direction of the  
tower. You can install 2 stacks on opposite osides of the tower to get  
around this.

You can build your own wheels or you can buy them ready made from Olde  
Antenna Laboratories.

RG-8 foam or even RG8X should be OK for short jumpers at 432. LMR 240  
may be the best choice with respect to flexibility, but is probably  
overkill. You can make your own jumpers, the handbook gives  
instructions for installing connectors that are not too hard to  
follow. If you insist on buying jumpers, there are a number of  
vendors; a look in the back of QST shows that DX Engineering, Cable X- 
Perts, Radio Works, and Quick Silver Radio all advertise jumpers. A  
web search will uncover others and you will probably find several  
purveyers of jumpers on e-bay.

Let us know what you decide to do with the omni. - Duffey


On Jun 27, 2008, at 3:04 PM, David wrote:

> I have a M2`Eggbeater antenna at about 50 ft on the side of my 70 ft  
> tower. It was put there several years ago for satellite work. Since  
> I no longer work satellites I want to optimize my 432 performance  
> for contesting.   Are there other omni directional antennas that can  
> be side mounted that will work better for ground wave?
>
> What do most folks use for jumpers between the radio and amplifier  
> at 432? I find the 3 ft jumper of 9913 with N connectors to be too  
> stiff.  Would RG-8 with N connectors be just as well in 3 ft  
> length?  Where can one buy such jumpers?
>
> Thanks,
>
> David
> KE4YYD
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KK6MC
James Duffey
Cedar Crest NM