Hi Cecil -

I'm glad your antenna is working well for you!
A few more comments below...

"W5DXP" wrote in message
...
Ed Senior wrote:
I am rather bemused by the responses you got suggesting a
one-size-fits-all
ladder-line doublet instead. I'm sure these can be good antennas; but
they usually seem to be presented by their advocates as having no draw-
backs at all. That would be an incorrect view, as those antennas have
their own tradeoffs--just like other antennas.

The biggest tradeoff is the tuner, of course.

I use the transmission line to tune my 130 ft. dipole, no tuner needed.

Well, perhaps I should have said something like

"...no tuner needed, implemented either as the traditional box with
tunable L and C, OR implemented in distributed fashion as a switchable-
length transmission-line transformer, usually including a current balun."

But that would have been a heck of a mouthful; and most of the users
of this antenna type seem to advocate the traditional form of the tuner.

Actually, I rather LIKE the switchable-length transmission line idea.
Could you refresh me on many different lengths do you find you need to
be able to get the SWR below, say, 2:1 at every point in those 8 bands?
(I think we talked about this in an earlier thread, but I don't remember
all the details.) How do you stow the tuning lengths, and how many
physical switches (or plug-ins) are needed? When you do a typical
band change, does "a couple" of switch operations literally mean two,
or several? Any safety issues with the switches if you're running power?

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying six bands, instant QSY, no tuner needed, and
I run power when I want to.

I'm enjoying eight bands, throw a couple of knife switches to QSY,
no tuner needed, and I run power when I want to. Also no messing
with the interaction of multiple legs of dipoles.

I would only add that I found the W9INN dipoles to be extremely easy
to tune, with no troublesome interactions. Also, there is no "messing"
with either a traditional tuner, or switching a tunable transmission-line
transformer.

--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp