I was thinking (finally) about simple dipoles and such and have this
question:

I plan on constructing some simple dipoles. For fun, I have been modeling
them using EZNEC. It seems the "common" practice is to feed the antenna with
50 ohm cable. The antenna feed point impedance is usually ~70 Ohms. Would it
make more sense to feed a dipole with 75 ohm TV coax to keep the SWR low on
the cable and have the mismatch at the radio? If I plan on using an antenna
tuner, would this setup be preferred over 50 ohm feed cable? Does it really
make any difference?

Just Wondering,

Tom

"Tom Sedlack" wrote in message
...
I was thinking (finally) about simple dipoles and such and have this
question:

I plan on constructing some simple dipoles. For fun, I have been modeling
them using EZNEC. It seems the "common" practice is to feed the antenna
with
50 ohm cable. The antenna feed point impedance is usually ~70 Ohms. Would
it
make more sense to feed a dipole with 75 ohm TV coax to keep the SWR low
on
the cable and have the mismatch at the radio? If I plan on using an
antenna
tuner, would this setup be preferred over 50 ohm feed cable? Does it
really
make any difference?

Just Wondering,

Tom



unless these are uhf dipoles with very long feedlines the difference in swr
between a 50 and 75 ohm coax won't make any difference to you.

Tom,
If you hadn't said 75 ohm TV coax, I'd say it would
work just fine either way. If you would change that
"TV coax" to something like RG-59 (or whatever the other
size of 75 ohm cable is) you would have much less trouble
making connections. The TV stuff uses aluminum braid, which
is a real P.I.T.A. ...
'Doc