Troy,

You really want 2 antennas.

1. A dipole for 80 meters. 50 feet is not that bad; there are many that are
lower.

2. A rotatable antenna of some kind for 10/15. At this point, I don't know
of any that don't also work 20, but then, you might upgrade. If you want to
keep cost down, I would get a 2 element triband beam. These are light enough
to mount on a TV rotator.

Doing it this way you don't have to mess around with antenna tuners. The
money you save will pay for the tribander. I have a Hygain TH3MK4 at about
42 feet. This appears to be about optimum for 15 meters.

Tam/WB2TT
"Troy - VK2HXY" wrote in message
...
Hi there ladies and gents. I have a question that has most likely come up
here before, and I do apologise if this is visiting old ground.

I am a novice limited license holder in Australia and pretty soon I will
have access to the 10-15 and 80M bands. I would like to know what you
consider as being the best all round antenna for my purpose? I have plenty
of room to mount an 80M dipole antenna, although height is a problem. I
can
go up no more than about 50 feet.

I also have a mast and rotator, so a triband yagi is also on the cards.

Just looking for decent ideas here guy's. I know the question is fairly
open ended, but I would like to consider all my options from those who
have
all the best knowledge of what works and what doesn't. To wire or not to
wire? To beam or not to beam? To G5RV??????

I am running a TS-850, an MFJ 989C Tuner running 100W out of the box.

Thanks very much for your time and I really appreciate your response to my
questions.

Warmest regards

73 de VK2HXY
Troy

Tarmo,
Or, you could look at it in the opposite way. The
tuner would replace the beam, tower, and rotor at a
net savings of ~probably~ the price of the tuner. I
wonder why people are so 'afraid' of tuners?
'Doc

"'Doc" wrote in message ...


Tarmo,
Or, you could look at it in the opposite way. The
tuner would replace the beam, tower, and rotor at a
net savings of ~probably~ the price of the tuner. I
wonder why people are so 'afraid' of tuners?
'Doc

OK, how about this:

I was just listening to an EA8 on 20 meters. He was S9 on the tribander, and
S4 on the 75 meter antenna.

Also, why have a no tune transmitter when you have to retune the antenna
tuner when you change frequency.

Tam/WB2TT

Tarmo,
Wrote in part;
Also, why have a no tune transmitter when you have to retune the antenna
tuner when you change frequency.


Well, lets see.
1. No tower, or room for a beam antenna.
2. Hand, wrist, and arm not broken, sprained, strained, or lazy.
3. The 'no tune' transmitter wasn't ~my~ idea. I don't mind
tuning.
4. Simplifies antenna system.
5. Even if I think antennas are beautiful, neighbors don't.
6. Don't really care if 'they' hear me S-9 or S-4, as long
as they hear me. Same for hearing 'them'.
7. Had a tribander. The loop did as well and in some instances
better. (Do have to admit the tribander wasn't up very high.)
8. Don't have to worry about a rotor and everything associated
with
one.
9. And... we're talking about a "best" 'all around antenna'
which
implies not having several.

No ~one~ antenna does everything well, there are always
compromises
in performance vs. simplicity. Some would rather use a tuner
than
have a number of antennas, some won't. I really don't think
it'll
make much difference either way...
'Doc