"Roy Lewallen" wrote in message
...
Trying to phase two antennas that close together at that frequency range
will be an educational experience at best, but more likely just an
exercise in frustration unless you have much more patience than average.
Such an array will be hyper-sensitive to everything. You might be able to
fleetingly see a null after a lot of tweaking, but I seriously doubt
you'll even get that. A tiny change in frequency, wiggling of the whips,
or even movement in the vicinity of the whips will have a profound effect
on any null you might see.

If a null from a small antenna is what you want, you'd have much better
luck with a carefully constructed and balanced ("shielded") loop.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Found my copy of Joe Carr's Practical Antenna Handbook, and re-read the
section on phasing verticle antennas. I believe you. Back to square one,
which was the thought that a loop was probably my best bet (I had come to
that conclusion a while back, but forgot why.)

Did try a shielded loop once upon a time, but didn't feel it gave me
anything to look forward to. Guess I'll dig it out and try it again. Will
try shielding it with copper "tape" and see what that buys me. I did try a
piece of coax wound in a triple-turn loop to give me 2.5 or 3 uH with which
to tune, with the shield cut away to expose the center conductor for a
couple inches, but didn't feel this offered anything either. Not sure what
I'll do. Poke around and try different things until I find something that
works better than the rest. Any ideas? I'm all ears. I tried the whips
because I had them on hand, and they were easy to install. Seems I read
somewhere that contrary to conventional wisdom, the shield on a shielded
loop doesn't actually shield at all, but becomes the antenna element.
Anyone know anything about that line of thought? I obviously know nothing,
and am trying to learn. Just don't know where to focus my energies.

Thanks,

Dave