vertical antenna choices
 

Hi all,
Seems like there is a bewildering choice in vertical antennas. My "dream
antenna" would be:

Not higher than 35 feet
Requires no guying
covers 10-160 including WARC bands
Has a "reasonable" bandwidth in each band with
less than 2:1 SWR (I know this is a tough one to include 160 for)
No radials
Automatically tunes for each band (meaning I don't have to go
to the antenna to do something to change from 10 meters to working
on 40 Meters)

There seems to be a large number of choices, none of which does quite
all of that (maybe I missed some, suggestions are welcome). Seems like I
have at least some good choices going 10-80 but when I include 160 they
go away.

I'm interested in any suggestions or experiences with verticles as noted
above.
'
Jerry

Jerry, KISS

The best vertical is an approximately vertical wire, rod or mast, as tall as
possible, with a set of shallow-buried ground radials, a dozen or so in
number, with a length roughly equal to antenna height. The whole
contraption, if you can manage it, being well away from man-made buildings
and dense tall trees.

Any experimental modifications, such as loading coils, will result in very
minor changes, hardly noticeably better on some bands but inevitably worse
on others.

The most important component in the system is always the tuner, next the
ground system, and finally the antenna wire. KISS again!
----
Reg, G4FGQ

Reg Edwards wrote:
The best vertical is an approximately vertical wire ...

Hi Reg, IMO, the best vertical is horizontal. :-)
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp


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On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 08:16:34 -0500, Jerseyj
wrote:

Hi all,
Seems like there is a bewildering choice in vertical antennas. My "dream
antenna" would be:

Not higher than 35 feet
Requires no guying
covers 10-160 including WARC bands
Has a "reasonable" bandwidth in each band with
less than 2:1 SWR (I know this is a tough one to include 160 for)
No radials
Automatically tunes for each band (meaning I don't have to go
to the antenna to do something to change from 10 meters to working
on 40 Meters)

There seems to be a large number of choices, none of which does quite
all of that (maybe I missed some, suggestions are welcome). Seems like I
have at least some good choices going 10-80 but when I include 160 they
go away.

I'm interested in any suggestions or experiences with verticles as noted
above.
'
Jerry

The feature set you're looking for probably doesn't exist. Try
http://www.cebik.com/radio.html for all kinds of homebrew ideas,
vertical, horizonal and other planes, too...

bob
k5qwg

For DX or anything beyond a few hundred miles, you shouldn't make your
vertical taller than about 5/8 wavelength. At greater heights, the
radiation at low angles decreases and the radiation at high angles
increases. So taller isn't always better. You probably won't be able to
construct a single vertical that's reasonably efficient on the lower
frequency bands without being too long for low angle radiation on the
higher frequency bands, unless you include some sort of trap(s) to limit
the length of the radiating portion on the higher bands.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Reg Edwards wrote:
Jerry, KISS

The best vertical is an approximately vertical wire, rod or mast, as tall as
possible . . .

Jerry,
"Dream antenna" is exactly right...unfortunately.
'Doc