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Carolina Windom Problem...any suggestions
I have posted this on eHam.com, but thought I'd try here as well.
Sorry if this story is rather convoluted, but I'm in a bit of a quandary and any help would be appreciated. I am getting back into ham radio after a ten year absence, and HF operating has always been my favorite. In the past I lived in a rural area, and could put up whatever sort of antennas I wanted, and was even pretty good at making my own dipoles for various bands. However, I now live in a subdivision that, while antennas are not forbidden outright, the civic association is vicious and not to be trifled with, hence I wanted to go with something at once stealthy but versatile. At first I thought to try the old stand-by, the G5RV, but in doing my Internet research on the issue, I came across this "Carolina Windom" multiband antenna, which seemed to give more bangs for the buck. I ended up purchasing one from an outfit that will remain nameless here, to the tune of around $150, when you include shipping, rope and other incidentals. It was a bear of a job to put up, since I had to threat it through tree branches and whatnot (which is why I got the one with the insulated wire), but I got it up. Suspended from trees, the "matching transformer" (looks like a balun to me) and the long segment of wire was up about 35', more or less horizontal. The shorter end sloped down, with the end about 10' up (I had no alternative in this). After making up the 100 or so foot feed line (RG-8X) and grounding the rig (8' copper ground rod), I hooked up my Yaesu FT-890...and the SWR was through the roof on all bands. Anything more than a few watts, on 80 through 10m, made the radio shut down. I checked continuity all the way back to the antenna, and everything seems OK, except the balun shows a dead short on my VOM. However, the antenna maker says their balun is supposed to show a dead short, and when I took the antenna back down I could find nothing else wrong with it (no damaged insulation, all connections weatherproofed to the max, not that it had been up long enough to get wet, etc). Except for power and phone lines running along the back property line (and the slinky antenna I put up later is no further away from those than the Windom was, and I am having no problems with it), there was nothing metallic nearby to detune the antenna, and even if there was, I can't imagine even that would create the high SWR I am seeing. I called the manufacturer up and after telling me there was nothing wrong with the antenna based on what I told them, they just said to send the antenna back to them and they would "check it out". We finally get to my question. I have been working on getting an antenna for weeks, and am tired of fooling with assorted vendors (have dealt with several during this process, and none have impressed me). Given how much I will pay out further on shipping the antenna both ways and the like, I am wondering if I would be better off simply buying a decent 4:1 balun, replace the existing "matching transformer" with it, and use the rest of the antenna components (wire, coax, RF choke), and if so, is this more likely to work? Based on my research, the original Windom antenna design used a 4:1 balun, and the wire lengths of the antenna I bought look to be pretty close to specs per that design, which is why I suggest this option. Unfortunately I am no antenna guru, and even with all the information I've found on the Windom, the data is a bit ambiguous on this point. So, before I throw any more good money after bad, I would appreciate any help you all could give me in this matter. Thanks and 73. PS What to take out of my email address to make it work is pretty obvious... |
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