I have owned an successfully used two of the 160 meter "Carolina
Windoms" from Radiworks. First commercial wire antennas I've ever
used, but I made the decsision to buy & not build, in order to save
time and get something up in the air quickly.

These antennas work well. Your installed height is not really great,
but if that's all you have to work with, then so be it.

Radioworks' Carolina Windom (at least the 160M version) has around a
2:1 to 3:1 SWR on the 160-10M ham bands....which pretty much dictates
the use of a tuner; with your height, SWR will probably be a bit
higher. The design has some kind of balun at the junction of the
horizontal elements, and an RF choke at the end of the 22' "radiating
feedline".

With insulated wire, I don't know what variables you'll have...sounds
like it is made by another company, so your mileage may vary.

Good luck & 73
dt


On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 13:54:28 -0500, "Pat Myers"
wrote:

I have posted this on eHam.com, but thought I'd try here as well.

Sorry if this story is rather convoluted, but I'm in a bit of a quandary and
any help would be appreciated.

I am getting back into ham radio after a ten year absence, and HF operating
has always been my favorite. In the past I lived in a rural area, and could
put up whatever sort of antennas I wanted, and was even pretty good at
making my own dipoles for various bands.

However, I now live in a subdivision that, while antennas are not forbidden
outright, the civic association is vicious and not to be trifled with, hence
I wanted to go with something at once stealthy but versatile.

At first I thought to try the old stand-by, the G5RV, but in doing my
Internet research on the issue, I came across this "Carolina Windom"
multiband antenna, which seemed to give more bangs for the buck. I ended up
purchasing one from an outfit that will remain nameless here, to the tune of
around $150, when you include shipping, rope and other incidentals.

It was a bear of a job to put up, since I had to threat it through tree
branches and whatnot (which is why I got the one with the insulated wire),
but I got it up. Suspended from trees, the "matching transformer" (looks
like a balun to me) and the long segment of wire was up about 35', more or
less horizontal. The shorter end sloped down, with the end about 10' up (I
had no alternative in this).

After making up the 100 or so foot feed line (RG-8X) and grounding the rig
(8' copper ground rod), I hooked up my Yaesu FT-890...and the SWR was
through the roof on all bands.

Anything more than a few watts, on 80 through 10m, made the radio shut down.
I checked continuity all the way back to the antenna, and everything seems
OK, except the balun shows a dead short on my VOM. However, the antenna
maker says their balun is supposed to show a dead short, and when I took the
antenna back down I could find nothing else wrong with it (no damaged
insulation, all connections weatherproofed to the max, not that it had been
up long enough to get wet, etc).

Except for power and phone lines running along the back property line (and
the slinky antenna I put up later is no further away from those than the
Windom was, and I am having no problems with it), there was nothing metallic
nearby to detune the antenna, and even if there was, I can't imagine even
that would create the high SWR I am seeing.

I called the manufacturer up and after telling me there was nothing wrong
with the antenna based on what I told them, they just said to send the
antenna back to them and they would "check it out".

We finally get to my question. I have been working on getting an antenna for
weeks, and am tired of fooling with assorted vendors (have dealt with
several during this process, and none have impressed me).

Given how much I will pay out further on shipping the antenna both ways and
the like, I am wondering if I would be better off simply buying a decent 4:1
balun, replace the existing "matching transformer" with it, and use the rest
of the antenna components (wire, coax, RF choke), and if so, is this more
likely to work? Based on my research, the original Windom antenna design
used a 4:1 balun, and the wire lengths of the antenna I bought look to be
pretty close to specs per that design, which is why I suggest this option.

Unfortunately I am no antenna guru, and even with all the information I've
found on the Windom, the data is a bit ambiguous on this point. So, before I
throw any more good money after bad, I would appreciate any help you all
could give me in this matter. Thanks and 73.

PS What to take out of my email address to make it work is pretty
obvious...