"Mike Coslo" wrote

I have two antennas, one is a
Butternut HF-6V, and the other is a ladder line fed dipole, 96 feet
total, and I'm tuning with a MFJ 993 auto tuner.

Mike, what's the height of your dipole, and what bands do you successfully
work with it? In my new qth I have room for a 90' dipole, and wondered if I
can work 75/80 with it. I may be able to get one end up about 50' or higher,
the other end 31' (if I buy a certain telescoping mast). I know that's
pretty low for 75/80, but what the heck.

Howard N7SO

On Oct 9, 7:42 pm, "Howard Lester" wrote:
"Mike Coslo" wrote

I have two antennas, one is a
Butternut HF-6V, and the other is a ladder line fed dipole, 96 feet
total, and I'm tuning with a MFJ 993 auto tuner.

Mike, what's the height of your dipole, and what bands do you successfull
y
work with it?


Hi Howard,

Right around 50 feet high.
It's almost straight, with just enough droop to keep it in one piece
when the winds blow. I do work 75 and 80 meters with it, actually much
better than I had expected. One year during NAQP, I was working
California stations right after I tuned the setup, After about an
hour, I looked at the SWR meter and saw that I had forgot to increase
the power after tuning. It wasn't just that I was operating QRP, it
was that I didn't notice it. I called, they heard.

It tunes all the bands from 80 to 10 - past 20 meters it is very broad
tuning. I've tuned it on 160 meters, but not had the intestinal
fortitude to operate it there. Probably would work after a fashion,
just not very well.

- 73 de dMike N3LI -

Mike Coslo wrote:

It tunes all the bands from 80 to 10 - past 20 meters it is very broad
tuning. I've tuned it on 160 meters, but not had the intestinal
fortitude to operate it there. Probably would work after a fashion,
just not very well.

I love ladder-fed dipoles. They're dead simple, make the best use of
whatever space you have, and work remarkably well. I had especially
good luck with them when I used to work Field Day.

And yes, you can use them on 160. Not the greatest antenna, but I don't
work 160 enough to justify a separate antenna and "good enough" is fine.

73, Steve KB9X

"Mike Coslo" wrote

Hi Howard,

Right around 50 feet high.
It's almost straight, with just enough droop to keep it in one piece
when the winds blow. I do work 75 and 80 meters with it, actually much
better than I had expected.

----------------------

Thanks Mike - sounds good and encouraging. I need to get one of those push
up fiberglass poles -- either the 43' or 31' version -- to support the other
end of one version of a proposed 90' dipole. Maybe I'll do that next spring.
In the meantime I'm going to try a random wire (about 100' long) with the
far end thrown over as high a branch as I can reach... or find someone with
a bow and arrow to do it. For 80 and 40 it'll complement my little MFJ Hi-Q
Loop I use for 10 - 30 meters. The rig's an IC-735 and an AEA Transmatch.
I'm almost ready to assemble the station now that I've moved back to 2-land.

Howard N7SO