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Old April 9th 10, 01:08 AM posted to rec.radio.amateur.antenna
[email protected] nm5k@wt.net is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 757
Default ICOM AH-4 into Hy-Gain 64 foot Aluminum Mast

On Apr 8, 1:16*pm, Jim Lux wrote:


BTW, a better approach than a vertical might be a inverted V dipole from
the top of your 60 foot pole. * MUCH better radiation effectiveness
because of H polarization..


Much easier to deal with. You really don't want to have to deal
with radials at a field day. And using an antenna tuner to match
a vertical is not the greatest way to go about it.
Then you have the radiator height issue.. A 64 foot mast is too
tall for most of the higher HF bands. So it's not going to be too
practical for multi band use unless it's only for the lower bands.
Heck, it's slightly tall even to be a 5/8 wave on 30m...
It's going to be fairly useless as a vertical on 20m and up..
High angle lobes..

If it were me, I'd use the mast to support dipoles for each band
to be used. I feed them all with a single coax and spread the
legs apart at right angles to minimize interaction.
Or one could use a multi band dipole of some type.
One method I used to use camping was the "jumper"
dipole. IE: I'd run a 80m length dipole, but have insulators
breaking it up into higher band dipoles. For 80m, they would
all have jumpers across them.
For higher bands, you would use remove the jumper across the
insulator to shorten the length.
But I prefer the parallel dipoles for FD use, and I almost always
have enough room to do it. That way I have instant band changing
with no retuning, fiddling, etc..
If I were to use a vertical for all bands, I'd probably go with some
type of elevated 1/2 wave design that didn't require radials.
But except for far off DX, I would prefer the dipoles.
The bulk of FD contacts are not going to be DX on the lower
bands. You would be better served with the NVIS pattern of a
dipole on 40, 80 meters. An 80 or 40 meter dipole will work quite
well if supported at 60 ft at the apex. Really doesn't have to be that
high, but if you can get them up to 60 ft, they will work well.
Even to most DX.