4 ms·

What am I passionate about at the moment? Hmm. Last week I got "on the air" for the first time in years. Operating on 20 meters with a well designed but temp

What am I passionate about at the moment? Hmm. Last week I got "on the air" for the first time in years. Operating on 20 meters with a well designed but temporary home brew wire antenna. I made contact with people from Italy, the UK, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Japan in a period of two hours. It went very well. Right now I'm designing a permanent, high performance antenna system, planning it out and lining up the materials. It's not easy. There are many factors involved; the compromises of engineering. My hat is off to anyone that ever manages to build a low cost, large antenna that can survive the elements and perform well.

MandieD 4y ago
Especially if you’re space-constrained, I’d like to see your antenna. Currently fiddling with the length of a not-so-long wire on a 1:9 UnUn, up the 2m that my tree and neighbor situation permits.
- topspin 4y ago
  It's down now and I didn't take photos. It's an end-fed (64:1 transformer) sloped 20 meter dipole at 65' (19.8 meters.) I built a pair of very good chokes to stop the common mode inherent in these antennas. Had it tuned perfectly using an analyzer and about 10 iterations of trimming. I have large trees on a good bit of land in the middle of nowhere and I can do as I please. I just can't spend what I please. :) Unfortunately the tops of such trees -- the part I'm trying to hang stuff on -- move a lot in the wind. They are a poor foundation for a permanent antenna. My plan is a horizontal multiband doublet at 70'+ fed with 600 ohm ladder line and an automatic remote tuner. That will deliver 5 or more bands with decent radiation lobes. About 50' of marine grade bungee will support it. The main thing I learned is that if you're hanging something from the twiggy, weak branches on the tops of trees it must be light. Just small gauge wire and support rope. No ferrites or coax or anything like that.

MandieD 4y ago

Especially if you’re space-constrained, I’d like to see your antenna. Currently fiddling with the length of a not-so-long wire on a 1:9 UnUn, up the 2m that my tree and neighbor situation permits.

topspin 4y ago
It's down now and I didn't take photos. It's an end-fed (64:1 transformer) sloped 20 meter dipole at 65' (19.8 meters.) I built a pair of very good chokes to stop the common mode inherent in these antennas. Had it tuned perfectly using an analyzer and about 10 iterations of trimming. I have large trees on a good bit of land in the middle of nowhere and I can do as I please. I just can't spend what I please. :) Unfortunately the tops of such trees -- the part I'm trying to hang stuff on -- move a lot in the wind. They are a poor foundation for a permanent antenna. My plan is a horizontal multiband doublet at 70'+ fed with 600 ohm ladder line and an automatic remote tuner. That will deliver 5 or more bands with decent radiation lobes. About 50' of marine grade bungee will support it. The main thing I learned is that if you're hanging something from the twiggy, weak branches on the tops of trees it must be light. Just small gauge wire and support rope. No ferrites or coax or anything like that.