Buck wrote:
. . .
I have used experimental antennas that theoretically won't 'work' and
made contacts. One was a roll of 500 foot of wire. I unrolled an
estimated 1/4 wave of wire for 80 meters, on the first try it was
1.5:1 or less and I used it to check into the GA SSB net. I had a
weak signal, but it worked. I also hung an inverted V with a random
length of wire from each side (I don't remember the length, but they
were both the same length.) I connected one side of the feedline and
dipole to the left side of a 100ohm resistor and the other side of the
feedline and dipole to the other side of the resistor. My theory was
that the antenna would be a parallel circuit leaving the impedance
below 100 ohms. I don't know if my theory worked, but I did make
contacts. When I took down the antenna and replaced it with a shorter
dipole, I had a much better receiver than I had with the resistor.


What theory is it which says those antennas won't "work", given that
your criterion for "working" is making contacts? I've made contacts on a
light bulb, worked Alaska from a Colorado basement on 20 meters with 50
watts of SSB using a dipole(*) draped around the room with no part
higher than ground level, worked New Hebrides on 40 meter CW running 1.5
watts to a bent attic dipole(**) 16 feet off the ground, and JA running
8 watts on 40 meter CW with a base loaded CB whip bumper mounted on a
VW. These aren't exceptional -- every ham who's operated for some time
has a handful of similar stories. All those antennas "worked". Any
theory which declares they can't is wrong, and should be discarded. No
theory I know says they can't.

(*) The feedline was 72 ohm twinlead, with one conductor stuck into the
rig's SO-239 center pin and the other clipped onto the rig's chassis.
(**) Coax fed, no balun.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL