Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1   Report Post  
Old February 25th 04, 04:00 PM
Gary Boyer
 
Posts: n/a
Default 160 Meters

I am looking for suggestions on erecting a first time 160 meter antenna..no,
I don't have and tower and no I don't have any antenna modeling
software....I am just interested in your thoughts....I have never been on
160 and would just like to try it....tnx...Gary..K8BY..Oh..I just live on a
average size city lot....few trees....


  #2   Report Post  
Old February 25th 04, 04:47 PM
Dave
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Gary Boyer" wrote in message
...
I am looking for suggestions on erecting a first time 160 meter

antenna..no,
I don't have and tower and no I don't have any antenna modeling
software....I am just interested in your thoughts....I have never been on
160 and would just like to try it....tnx...Gary..K8BY..Oh..I just live on

a
average size city lot....few trees....



put up the longest dipole you can as high as you can and load it with a
tuner... that is the easiest and fastest way. if you have an 80m dipole
that will work ok to try it out. this weekend is a good time to see what
you can do, the cq 160m ssb test is this weekend so there will be lots of
activity.


  #3   Report Post  
Old February 25th 04, 06:17 PM
Reg Edwards
 
Posts: n/a
Default

For starters you can do no better than erect an inverted-L

To cover all bands from 160m upwards, overall length (vertical + horizontal
sections) is ideally in the region of 45 to 50 metres (150 feet to 170
feet.) but shorter lengths are OK although it may be become more difficults
to tune up on 160m.

You will need only a moderate ground such as half-a-dozen surface or shallow
buried ground wires no longer than 15 metres (50 feet). But shorter lengths
will be OK. If there is some wire left over then use it to increase the
number of radial wires rather than increase lengths.

The L need not be in straight line or the vertical section vertical. But
bends should preferably be less than 90 degrees,

On 160m a simple L-match tuner will suffice. 40uH roller coaster and a 450pF
capacitor. Or a selection of coils wound on toilet roll tubes.

It cannot be repeated too often, the higher the vertical section the better.

If your backyard is short in length then make an inverted-U out of it.

The inverted-L is the best all-round antenna for moderately-sized back
yards. It is all-band and for practical purposes omni-directional. Its only
disadvantage is that in a city or town environment it is sensitive to
locally-generated noise on 160 and 80 metres.

If local noise IS a very important factor then the next best thing is a
half-wave dipole for 160m. But this requires twice the length of antenna (up
to 260 feet) to work well on 160m.

Think about more complicated antennas only in terms of single-band,
multi-element beams at the higher frequencies.
----
The best of DX on 160m. Reg, G4FGQ


  #4   Report Post  
Old February 26th 04, 12:10 AM
Cecil Moore
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Reg Edwards wrote:
It cannot be repeated too often, the higher the vertical section the better.


Is that true for a 160m Inv-L used on 10m?
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp



-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----
  #5   Report Post  
Old February 26th 04, 03:44 PM
Mikey
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Gary, you can try 1/4-wave (about 125 ft), end-fed against ground. Simply
take the feedpoint as high as you can, run the wire as high as you can, then
run it around the outside of the back yard. It ain't perfect, but it is
simple and it does work...

73,
Mike KI6PR
El Rancho R.F., CA

"Gary Boyer" wrote
I am looking for suggestions on erecting a first time 160 meter

antenna..no,
I don't have and tower and no I don't have any antenna modeling
software....I am just interested in your thoughts....I have never been on
160 and would just like to try it....tnx...Gary..K8BY..Oh..I just live on

a
average size city lot....few trees....






  #6   Report Post  
Old February 26th 04, 07:06 PM
F8BOE
 
Posts: n/a
Default

An inverted L.
Or a Levy with Levy coupler 2X20 meter dipole with 15 meter twinlead.


  #7   Report Post  
Old February 28th 04, 12:27 AM
T.E.O
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I use a 1/2 wave inverted L. Vertical section is 65' - Horizontal section
is 180'.

I feed it with open wire thru a homebuilt link-coupled tuner.

Works FB.

No radials



"Gary Boyer" wrote in message
...
I am looking for suggestions on erecting a first time 160 meter

antenna..no,
I don't have and tower and no I don't have any antenna modeling
software....I am just interested in your thoughts....I have never been on
160 and would just like to try it....tnx...Gary..K8BY..Oh..I just live on

a
average size city lot....few trees....




  #8   Report Post  
Old March 1st 04, 03:38 AM
 
Posts: n/a
Default


put up the longest dipole you can as high as you can and load it with a
tuner... that is the easiest and fastest way. if you have an 80m dipole
that will work ok to try it out.


Unless you have a legal-limit tuner, or are going to use QRP power levels, I
would advise against that.
If the dipole is coax fed and is 80M 1/2 wavelength, at 100 watts out there
is going to be some crazy-high RF voltages inside that tuner. If it's an MFJ
300 watt tuner, more than likely it's going to arc like a welder.
Feeding the dipole with ladder-line is a different story......

I am in a city lot and use an Alpha Delta DX-A sloper.... but again it helps
to have a tower with a tribander to act as a capacity hat....

Mark W4UDX


  #9   Report Post  
Old March 2nd 04, 09:32 AM
Mark Keith
 
Posts: n/a
Default

wrote in message . ..
put up the longest dipole you can as high as you can and load it with a
tuner... that is the easiest and fastest way. if you have an 80m dipole
that will work ok to try it out.


Unless you have a legal-limit tuner, or are going to use QRP power levels, I
would advise against that.
If the dipole is coax fed and is 80M 1/2 wavelength, at 100 watts out there
is going to be some crazy-high RF voltages inside that tuner. If it's an MFJ
300 watt tuner, more than likely it's going to arc like a welder.
Feeding the dipole with ladder-line is a different story......


Not much. It's still a pretty bad scenario even with ladder line, on
say a T net tuner.
If all a person can do is use a 80 dipole, it usually best to short
the feedline together, or just feed the center pin, and feed the whole
thing as a vertical using the tuner to match. Will usually work much
better on 160m, than feeding a 80 dipole normally. You'll hear the
noise/signal level pop way up when you feed it this way compared to as
a half dipole with all the resulting tuner loss. MK
Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
FA: Trap Dipole & RF Meters Max Antenna 0 February 17th 04 03:55 PM
T Antenna for 160 Meters Scott Gordon Antenna 5 February 3rd 04 07:46 AM
Distance between transmit and receive antennas on 160 meters Metalhead Antenna 4 January 28th 04 06:09 PM
Mod Wanted: Icom 706 on 11 meters Paul Jordan Antenna 21 January 4th 04 06:54 AM
stub for 20 meters Iol Antenna 0 November 20th 03 04:42 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 04:10 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 RadioBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about Radio"

 

Copyright © 2017