80 Meter Windom
 

I put up a 133 ft Windom at 40 feet to operate some CW on the lower
bands during the down cycle. It seems, on 40 Mtrs, I am getting
great reports to the north, MI and Canada, but lower reports to the
south. This thing can't have a front to back, can it? Can anyone
point me to some radiations patterns for the Windom?

Thanks.

Win w0lz

yes, it can. it could also be that the ground is better one way than the
other, there is a building the wrong (or right) distance away one way or the
other, that there is a hill in the way one way, that you have been on when
propagation favors one direction over the other, or that you have just
contacted people who have better receivers to your north than to your south.
random on the air tests of antennas are poor at best, misleading at worst,
and are generally not all that useful in figuring out what the antenna
itself is doing.

"Winston" wrote in message
...
I put up a 133 ft Windom at 40 feet to operate some CW on the lower
bands during the down cycle. It seems, on 40 Mtrs, I am getting
great reports to the north, MI and Canada, but lower reports to the
south. This thing can't have a front to back, can it? Can anyone
point me to some radiations patterns for the Windom?

Thanks.

Win w0lz

On Sat, 13 Mar 2004 15:51:44 -0000, "Dave" wrote:

You may be right, Dave. I live on a lake and am radiating over water
to the north. I also have a little natural screening to the south.

Win w0lz

yes, it can. it could also be that the ground is better one way than the
other, there is a building the wrong (or right) distance away one way or the
other, that there is a hill in the way one way, that you have been on when
propagation favors one direction over the other, or that you have just
contacted people who have better receivers to your north than to your south.
random on the air tests of antennas are poor at best, misleading at worst,
and are generally not all that useful in figuring out what the antenna
itself is doing.

"Winston" wrote in message
.. .
I put up a 133 ft Windom at 40 feet to operate some CW on the lower
bands during the down cycle. It seems, on 40 Mtrs, I am getting
great reports to the north, MI and Canada, but lower reports to the
south. This thing can't have a front to back, can it? Can anyone
point me to some radiations patterns for the Windom?

Thanks.

Win w0lz

Winston wrote:
I put up a 133 ft Windom at 40 feet to operate some CW on the lower
bands during the down cycle. It seems, on 40 Mtrs, I am getting
great reports to the north, MI and Canada, but lower reports to the
south. This thing can't have a front to back, can it? Can anyone
point me to some radiations patterns for the Windom?

An off-center-fed dipole favors the hemisphere toward the long end.
If the long part of the dipole is pointing North, you will get the
best results in NE and NW directions. TOA on 40m is about 45 deg.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp



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Cecil, I failed to say that it is a Carolina Windom. Would the
vertical radial alter the pattern significantly. The antenna runs East
and West with the long arm to the West.

Thnaks, Win w0lz

On Sat, 13 Mar 2004 15:49:35 -0600, Cecil Moore
wrote:

Winston wrote:
I put up a 133 ft Windom at 40 feet to operate some CW on the lower
bands during the down cycle. It seems, on 40 Mtrs, I am getting
great reports to the north, MI and Canada, but lower reports to the
south. This thing can't have a front to back, can it? Can anyone
point me to some radiations patterns for the Windom?

An off-center-fed dipole favors the hemisphere toward the long end.
If the long part of the dipole is pointing North, you will get the
best results in NE and NW directions. TOA on 40m is about 45 deg.

Winston wrote:
Cecil, I failed to say that it is a Carolina Windom. Would the
vertical radial alter the pattern significantly. The antenna runs East
and West with the long arm to the West.

Yes, that *does* change things. The Carolina Windom is somewhat like the
original windom, i.e. the vertical feedline is designed to carry common
mode currents and therefore radiate. This antenna could probably be
modeled as an off-center-fed dipole with an extra conductor hanging
down but I don't know which side the coax braid is connected to.
Do you know? Is the coax braid connected to the long side or the
short side?
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp



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I cant tell, Cecil. The vertical feedline connects via a PL connector
into a balum. I'm not sure it is a balum. It just looks like a balum.
There is what looks like a second balum at the bottom of the feed
line, PL connectors at both ends, and then 70 feet of RG-8. Maybe the
first balum is a 4 to1 and the second a 1 to 1.Bought it from Radio
World. Actually I am very pleased with it. I just wondered why most
of my contacts are in the same area, to the North.

Win w0lz



On Sat, 13 Mar 2004 19:23:33 -0600, Cecil Moore
wrote:

Winston wrote:
Cecil, I failed to say that it is a Carolina Windom. Would the
vertical radial alter the pattern significantly. The antenna runs East
and West with the long arm to the West.

Yes, that *does* change things. The Carolina Windom is somewhat like the
original windom, i.e. the vertical feedline is designed to carry common
mode currents and therefore radiate. This antenna could probably be
modeled as an off-center-fed dipole with an extra conductor hanging
down but I don't know which side the coax braid is connected to.
Do you know? Is the coax braid connected to the long side or the
short side?

Winston wrote:
I cant tell, Cecil. The vertical feedline connects via a PL connector
into a balum. I'm not sure it is a balum. It just looks like a balum.
There is what looks like a second balum at the bottom of the feed
line, PL connectors at both ends, and then 70 feet of RG-8. Maybe the
first balum is a 4 to1 and the second a 1 to 1.Bought it from Radio
World. Actually I am very pleased with it. I just wondered why most
of my contacts are in the same area, to the North.

Could be the top device is a 4:1 voltage balun which doesn't balance
the currents and that's why the vertical feedline radiates. The bottom
device is probably a 1:1 choke.

The slope of the land at my QTH favors Westward radiation. Perhaps that
is what you are experiencing.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp



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