My current antenna is a modified Van Gordon "All Bander".
For reference, the stock antenna is 134' of 14g stranded
bare copper fed with 100' of 450 ohm ladder line. I cut off
half of the ladder line and replaced it with a 12 turn, 5-1/4"
rg58 coil. 20 feet of rg58 goes from the coil into the shack.
I then trimmed the antenna to 7.175 mhz.

The antenna is a flat dipole up 20'. Seems to work OK but
I've got the itch to improve it. The feed point is 12" above
the peak of my roof. I was thinking about installing a 5' tripod
and 2 ten foot masts to elevate the antenna's feed point and
convert it into an inverted V. There will be no need to add to
the feedline.

Ok - now you know the facts - here are the questions:

1) A friend recommended I elevate the feedpoint only to 32'
because (he says) it'll work better at a multiple of a 1/4
wavelength. Is this true?

2) What can I expect in performance improvement at either
32' or 40' off the ground? The house is all wood construction
with an asphalt shingle roof.

Thanks for the help, guys!
--
Just my 2¢... 73 es gd dx de Ken KGØWX
Grid EM17ip, Flying Pigs #-1055
Proud builder & owner of Elecraft K2 #4913

Had you left it at the original length, and cut the ladderline to 93 feet,
you could have used it at 7.1,3.950, and 21.25
Mine is cut for 90 feet and I switch in lengths of ladder line between 1
foot and 39 feet. All band no tuner antenna.

See http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp/notuner.htm for more info.


"Ken Bessler" wrote in message
news:u%9Fe.19639$Eo.5690@fed1read04...
My current antenna is a modified Van Gordon "All Bander".
For reference, the stock antenna is 134' of 14g stranded
bare copper fed with 100' of 450 ohm ladder line. I cut off
half of the ladder line and replaced it with a 12 turn, 5-1/4"
rg58 coil. 20 feet of rg58 goes from the coil into the shack.
I then trimmed the antenna to 7.175 mhz.

The antenna is a flat dipole up 20'. Seems to work OK but
I've got the itch to improve it. The feed point is 12" above
the peak of my roof. I was thinking about installing a 5' tripod
and 2 ten foot masts to elevate the antenna's feed point and
convert it into an inverted V. There will be no need to add to
the feedline.

Ok - now you know the facts - here are the questions:

1) A friend recommended I elevate the feedpoint only to 32'
because (he says) it'll work better at a multiple of a 1/4
wavelength. Is this true?

2) What can I expect in performance improvement at either
32' or 40' off the ground? The house is all wood construction
with an asphalt shingle roof.

Thanks for the help, guys!
--
Just my 2¢... 73 es gd dx de Ken KGØWX
Grid EM17ip, Flying Pigs #-1055
Proud builder & owner of Elecraft K2 #4913

Ok - now you know the facts - here are the questions:

1) A friend recommended I elevate the feedpoint only to 32'
because (he says) it'll work better at a multiple of a 1/4
wavelength. Is this true?

NO...doesn't matter.

At the heights you are talking about on 40m (40'), the higher
the better.

2) What can I expect in performance improvement at either
32' or 40' off the ground? The house is all wood construction
with an asphalt shingle roof.

Either will be a big improvement over your current 20', but
two 10' masts might not be stable enough without some guying.

Tor
N4OGW