"Insert66" wrote in message
...
I have a few questions for the gurus

when we say 468 \ mhz = feet
and 234 / mhz = feet

The 234 / frequency formula gives you the quarter-wave length. A dipole
consists of two quarter-wave length elements, one tied to the antenna input
and the other to the antenna ground. The total length, therefore, is twice
that number (also given by the 468 / frequency formula)

would a full wave dipole be better?

NO. The half-wave dipole is what should be used for best results. To get
better performance, beam antennas are made using a half-wave dipole along
with properly placed reflector and director elements giving the antenna
directionality and gain.

what if the entire antenna was twice full wave long?
would i get better reception?

Not if you're using a dipole configuration. There are other antenna types
based on full wave elements that would work better for certain
applications...that's a bit of overkill for your application.

i am only interested in receiving, and only intertested
at this point, in 108 to 136 mhz AM. I am surrounded by buildings
and a transmission towers of every type, in every direction

Then altitude is your friend. Another possibility is to use a beam antenna
(Yagi, for example) if you're monitoring a particular station for more gain
at the cost of directionality. Otherwise, an omnidirectional antenna with
no gain placed as high as possible should suffice. Since you're looking at
a fairly narrow range of frequencies, it will be easier to optimize (tune)
the antenna.

the question of matching the antenna for he frequency you are after
and the idea of matching the antenna ohms to the ohms of the wire
used to feed it

Ideally, your antenna should present a 50-ohm impedance at the receiver
antenna input. For receive only, matching is less critical. You can use a
75-ohm impedance about as successfully. If I recall correctly, a dipole has
an intrinsic impedance of around 72 ohms at resonance; that is, at the
frequency it is cut for. That should be fine for your purposes. If the run
to your antenna is long, you should use a quality 50-ohm coax between the
radio and the dipole. For best results, the dipole can be tuned using a
balun or a gamma match (among other things...you'll have to Google these
things since my theory is a bit weak in that area), but for your
application, I would say that matching is not critical as long as the
antenna is cut and built properly.

after thinking about the idea that the lower ground
element and the top pointing driven element should be equal in
impedance, and that the lead should be the same, if one made a dipole
out of coaxial, and split the cable 23 inches from the end, and
dangled the mesh down and the center wirte up, the splitting
of the coaxial would change the ohms of the driven element and the
dangling mesh gound element

Yes. That works, too, and is super easy to make. You can us a single piece
of coax, then extend the braid opposite the direction of the center
conductor to form a dipole. The impedance is determined by the combination
of the driven element and the ground; thinking of them as having separate
impedances is not really correct.

- Doug