Red Wave Radio

Greetings,

        I'm asking the ng's advice about my next antenna. The goal is
to put up an inexpensive antenna, multi-banded but weighted towards
80/160M.  To jog your memories, my current rig is FT-980 with 100W
PEP running thru MFJ 941-E into a 240ft.+ random about 50ft. up. The
maximum length for the new antenna ( with a minimum of infolding ) is 250ft
available as an open "C" shape up about 50-60+ feet.  Neighborhood
restrictions are not a concern, money is; Hence, no comm'l bought antennas.
 The random does fine down to 20M, especially 12 and 17. Fine, I like these
bands alot. The MFJ will certainly tune the random at 40/80/160, but ERP
 is way down. Receptivity is not an issue. The goal is to put a 2nd antenna up
that will multi-band across 40/80/160, especially 80/160M.

        I'm focusing on 2 possibilities: A 250ft. dipole feed by twinlead or
a G5RV tuned around 3.9MHz. with hopes to radiate well on the 40 and 160M
harmonics. My reference book is "Antenna Toolkit", by Joe Carr. I confess that
I haven't finished it yet nor used the bundled CD. The equations I'm basing my
calculations on are found in the text on pgs. 81 and 99. No balun is planned at
this time. With or without the velocity factor, 125ft. should tune to about
1.9MHz. for the dipole. Fine by me. A G5RV with approx. 2 X56.4 feet of wire and
approx. 30.7 feet of twinlead should provide a tune around 3.9MHz. Also fine
by me.

        Wire, insulators, twinlead, some spare RG58 and rig are all standing by.
We are go for launch next tuesday. I only ask your opinions on the relative
merits of each. I could jetison the random. But if I could get substantial
improvements in my ERP on 80/160 I'd be happy to keep it up and use it more
for the 12.17. etc.that  it does well on. Winter is fast approaching and I'd
like to be set-up soon. Advice? Opinions ?

                TIA,

                Andrew
                KG4JBM

Andrew,
    I think I would go with the 160 meter dipole.  Depending
on the tuner, it should work on any band.  Using a shortened
antenna on 160 is almost a waste of time...
                     'Doc

Quote:>I'm asking the ng's advice about my next antenna. The goal is
>to put up an inexpensive antenna, multi-banded but weighted towards
>80/160M.  To jog your memories, my current rig is FT-980 with 100W
>PEP running thru MFJ 941-E into a 240ft.+ random about 50ft. up. The
>maximum length for the new antenna ( with a minimum of infolding ) is 250ft
>available as an open "C" shape up about 50-60+ feet.  Neighborhood
>restrictions are not a concern, money is; Hence, no comm'l bought antennas.
> The random does fine down to 20M, especially 12 and 17. Fine, I like these
>bands alot. The MFJ will certainly tune the random at 40/80/160, but ERP
> is way down. Receptivity is not an issue. The goal is to put a 2nd antenna
>up
>that will multi-band across 40/80/160, especially 80/160M.

>    I'm focusing on 2 possibilities: A 250ft. dipole feed by twinlead or
>a G5RV tuned around 3.9MHz. with hopes to radiate well on the 40 and 160M
>harmonics. My reference book is "Antenna Toolkit", by Joe Carr. I confess
>that
>I haven't finished it yet nor used the bundled CD. The equations I'm basing
>my
>calculations on are found in the text on pgs. 81 and 99. No balun is planned
>at
>this time. With or without the velocity factor, 125ft. should tune to about
>1.9MHz. for the dipole. Fine by me. A G5RV with approx. 2 X56.4 feet of wire
>and
>approx. 30.7 feet of twinlead should provide a tune around 3.9MHz. Also fine
>by me.

>    Wire, insulators, twinlead, some spare RG58 and rig are all standing
by.
>We are go for launch next tuesday. I only ask your opinions on the relative
>merits of each. I could jetison the random. But if I could get substantial
>improvements in my ERP on 80/160 I'd be happy to keep it up and use it more
>for the 12.17. etc.that  it does well on. Winter is fast approaching and I'd
>like to be set-up soon. Advice? Opinions ?

>            TIA,

>            Andrew
>            KG4JBM

Andrew,
I would go with the 160 mtr dipole.  Over all length would be 260 ft tuned to
1.8 MHz, so the 250 ft dipole would be great for you in that situation.  A G5RV
would be just about usless for 160 mtr work and 80 too for that matter.  I run
a G5RV(homebrewed) here and it is great down to 40 meters and ok on 80 but it
could be better worthless for 160.
73 de KG4FET Sandor

For what it is worth, the best antenna I ever had was back in the mid '60s.
It was probably around 300 + feet of 8 ga wire up 30 to 50 feet in the air
and brought back down to perhaps a thousand feet of chain link fence at the
far end.  I end fed this with a Johnson Ranger using 6 8 foot ground rods
spaced several feet apart and the house heating system (hot water radiator
heat).  No RF in the shack, and I could work anything I could hear on 160
and 80.  My favorite bands were 160, 80, 40, and 15 meters.  That little 65
watts am / 75 watts cw did a good job on that big hunk of wire.  Europe was
easy on 15 - down on 160, 25 watts at night was sufficient to talk across
the US.  160 in the daytime was a breeze for perhaps 80 miles or so - I did
have a guy trying to break and the guys I was talking with in Buffalo could
hear him (I couldn't) and they had to have him use CW to copy him.  He just
wanted to let me know I was banging into Washington, DC - at 1:00 in the
afternoon!  Nothing like an antenna tuner and a lot of wire!

73s from Rochester, NY
Jim

Quote:> Greetings,

> I'm asking the ng's advice about my next antenna. The goal is
> to put up an inexpensive antenna, multi-banded but weighted towards
> 80/160M.  To jog your memories, my current rig is FT-980 with 100W
> PEP running thru MFJ 941-E into a 240ft.+ random about 50ft. up. The
> maximum length for the new antenna ( with a minimum of infolding ) is
250ft
> available as an open "C" shape up about 50-60+ feet.  Neighborhood
> restrictions are not a concern, money is; Hence, no comm'l bought
antennas.
>  The random does fine down to 20M, especially 12 and 17. Fine, I like
these
> bands alot. The MFJ will certainly tune the random at 40/80/160, but ERP
>  is way down. Receptivity is not an issue. The goal is to put a 2nd
antenna up
> that will multi-band across 40/80/160, especially 80/160M.

> I'm focusing on 2 possibilities: A 250ft. dipole feed by twinlead or
> a G5RV tuned around 3.9MHz. with hopes to radiate well on the 40 and 160M
> harmonics. My reference book is "Antenna Toolkit", by Joe Carr. I confess
that
> I haven't finished it yet nor used the bundled CD. The equations I'm
basing my
> calculations on are found in the text on pgs. 81 and 99. No balun is
planned at
> this time. With or without the velocity factor, 125ft. should tune to
about
> 1.9MHz. for the dipole. Fine by me. A G5RV with approx. 2 X56.4 feet of
wire and
> approx. 30.7 feet of twinlead should provide a tune around 3.9MHz. Also
fine
> by me.

> Wire, insulators, twinlead, some spare RG58 and rig are all standing by.
> We are go for launch next tuesday. I only ask your opinions on the
relative
> merits of each. I could jetison the random. But if I could get substantial
> improvements in my ERP on 80/160 I'd be happy to keep it up and use it
more
> for the 12.17. etc.that  it does well on. Winter is fast approaching and
I'd
> like to be set-up soon. Advice? Opinions ?

> TIA,

> Andrew
> KG4JBM