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Dave Oldridge · July 16th 07, 06:31 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.antenna

wrote in
ups.com:

On Jul 15, 9:41 am, "Amerigo Vespucci" wrote:
I constructed an extended double zepp for
10 meters out of #12 solid house wire .
I didn't have any ladder line laying around so I decided to make my
own but all I had was some #10 stranded wire. I made the spacers 1"
apart and and put about one per foot and the total feedling is
approximately 25 ft. and it's going through an MFJ 941E Versatuner .
I can't get my SWR's below 2 . I'm sure there are a lot of varibles
here but I was hoping someone could point me in the right
direction.My first guess is that I should have used the #12 for the
feedline and the #10 for the antenna .
Thanks in advance ,
Will

Seems kind of strange the tuner would not match it..
The spacing probably has more effect on the feedline Z
than the wire diameter. Shouldn't really be that critical.
The wider the spacing, the higher the Z..
I guess you could try a different length of line..
Or scrounge up some other ladder line, maybe with a
different length. Even 300 TV line would be ok if it's
not wet.
Myself, I used to feed them with coax, and coax
series transformers. I imagine you could also feed
with coax and use twin matching coils at the feedpoint
for both sides of the element. Same as matching a
5/8 GP, you are just doing the same with a complete
antenna. I've never tried it, but it should work.

My very first antenna project was a straight 20m zepp, end fed with
homebrew 600-ohm line 1/4 wave long just like in the books. I never ever
measured the SWR or even transmitted on it, but it was one GREAT
receiving antenna for 20m (that was in my SWL days).

--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667