The main reason hams became interested in bazooka antennas was their
purportedly wider bandwidth at which they offered 2:1 SWR. Their effectiveness
has largely been discredited by Maxwell and others. Apparently the bandwith
increase is very small and not worth the effort of fiddling with various bits
of coax, and the tradeoff is reduced efficiency. Two simpler ways of getting
wider bandwidth without reducing efficiency: 1) a fan dipole, or 2) a wire,
unbroken and unconnected to your main dipole, resonant at a second frequency of
interest, and run in parallel about 6" - 1' away from the main dipole. For
80-75 metres, the main dipole might be cut for 3600 kHz, the parallel wire for
3800 kHz. You will get low SWR at both frequencies and acceptable SWR in
between. Check out some of the latest ARRL antenna construction books for info
on this little used technique. Cheers es 73. Harry, VE3GRO
Harry MacLean, VE3GRO
500 Riverside Drive, London, ON N6H 2R7
(519) 473-1668