"Bob" wrote in message
...
Hi again,
Please help on another question.
This antenna came with a lot of pieces. What many of you think is that the
coils I was talking about are those traps that are along the length of the
antenna like in this attached photo. These three traps allow the use of
other frequencies BUT I am not sure if they are working and I do not think
when I put this up on my tower, that the wind will not blow them down the
next day. I would prefer to simply use the straight telescoping aluminum
piping that is now together. Yes it would be a 5/8 wave, 10meter ground
plane antenna. But is this useable for most bands as an omni? With the
tuner? Seems it is about the longest, highest I can get it and then tune
it
for useable frequencies.
Please give me some pros or cons as to how I can utilize this for maximum
usage. As I said, I would prefer to simply use the light weight tubing,
keep
the antenna looking exactly like a 10m, 19foot, ground plane antenna and
tune it for best results. What are your comments? Pros? Cons? Thanks for
any
or all advice....

P.S. Please remember, the photo attached shows the band traps that I have,
I
DO NOT want to use them if I do not have to. They are heavy and the wind
will bring them down quickly.

Thanks
[snipped rest]

Bob,

Any multiband antenna is a compromise between radiation efficiency, cost,
wind loading, and weight. In other words, the designer of your vertical will
have already accounted for the wind loading that the traps represent, and
unless you're in an extremely heavy wind area, or are prone to frequent ice
storms followed by high winds, the traps shouldn't be a problem.

If you remove them, then the antenna will be capacitive at all frequencies
below resonance. That means you'll need to add inductance to get it to
resonate: you may have a good tuner, but unless it's located at the antenna,
you'll suffer a lot of RF loss in the feedline (I assume you're using coax)
and might even "punch through" the insulation if you're running high power.

I recommend you keep the antenna as-is, and mount it with the traps intact:
they're designed to offer a good compromise impedance on the ham bands, and
you probably won't need the tuner with them in the line. That means much
faster band shifting if you're a contester, and less worry about your finals
in any case. If it can't take the wind load, it shouldn't be up there, and
you'll have an answer to that question fairly quickly.

If the effort or cost of putting it up is on the wrong end of your
risk/reward curve, then I suggest you use the tower to support a random-wire
or tuned-feeder dipole, and put your tuner to use.

FWIW. YMMV.

Bill

(Filter noise from my address for direct replies)