I am planning how to set up my VHF/UHF station and I need some help.

You can orient a VHF antenna horizontally for CW/SSB work or you could
orient that same antenna vertically for local FM use.

What if I am new to VHF/UHF and I want to do both. Could you get a
circularly polarized antenna, with both horizontal and vertical elements and
use it for both types? I don't want to buy two of the same antenna, only to
have one horizontal and one vertical.

What is your advice?

Rod KI7CQ

Rod Maupin wrote:
What if I am new to VHF/UHF and I want to do both. Could you get a
circularly polarized antenna, with both horizontal and vertical elements and
use it for both types? I don't want to buy two of the same antenna, only to
have one horizontal and one vertical.

Mount your beam antenna at 45 degrees to the vertical.
You can work both and only lose half an S-unit.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

Thanks Cecil. That's great advice.

Problem solved.

Rod KI7CQ

That works pretty good until the other guy is also at 45 to the world
and 90 degrees to you!

John Ferrell W8CCW

On Tue, 08 Nov 2005 20:07:01 GMT, Cecil Moore wrote:

Rod Maupin wrote:
What if I am new to VHF/UHF and I want to do both. Could you get a
circularly polarized antenna, with both horizontal and vertical elements and
use it for both types? I don't want to buy two of the same antenna, only to
have one horizontal and one vertical.

Mount your beam antenna at 45 degrees to the vertical.
You can work both and only lose half an S-unit.

That works pretty good until the other guy is also at 45 to the world
and 90 degrees to you!

.... or is using a standard horizontal antenna, but happens to be
located in the plane of your antenna. In this situation, he will
"see" only the component of your antenna's radiation pattern - he'll
be in a deep null for any horizontal radiation and may not hear you at
all.

Building an antenna which is omnidirectional, and which also has
substantially equal horizontally- and vertically-polarized signal
components over the full omni donut, is possible (commercial FM
services do it) but seems to be tricky, expensive, and prone to being
narrow-band.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

John Ferrell wrote:
That works pretty good until the other guy is also at 45 to the world
and 90 degrees to you!

When two pilots are trying to avoid a head-on collision,
they both bank right. Is there a similar convention for
slanted beams? :-)
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

Perhaps I should try it vertically for a while and then horizontally for a
while, see which way I like the best, and then leave it at that
polarization.

Rod KI7CQ