C
CW Morse
Guest
I had a visit from a friend today who bought a L'il Tar Heel antenna (mini-screwdriver) that covers 75 thru 6 Meters with a
36 (?) whip and 160 thru 6 with about 56" whip--even more with a longer whip, but you just lose the upper bands. I had never messed with the mini-screwdrivers, but they DO work, and for someone that just won't abide a full-sized screwdriver, not a bad compromise. Shouldn't notice the difference above 40 Meters. We checked into the ECARS net on 7255 and got a great report from PA. He had never fooled with a screwdriver before, and got me to show him how to resonate it. The min-screwdrivers, as I said, are a good compromise and should do quite well for someone who wants a short antenna (less than 6' total extended), or the XYL won't let 'im put big ugly antennas on his vehicle They will not perform as well as the larger HF antennas because they use very small gauge wire wound on a small form. They won't accept much more that a couple of hundred watts without melting down--which really is not an issue for most of us. The serious HF operators running 75 Meter mobiles will usually have 2 or 3" bugcatchers or screwdriver antennas wound of #14 wire at 8 or less turns per inch. (Like the ones *I* make<img src=http://users.joplin.com/dutch64804/wavey.gif ALT=":wavey"> ) LOL!
But if you are mostly an occasional HF operator that works 75 meters rarely, the little Tar Heel and other smaller screwdrivers work quite well above 40 Meters.
73
CW Morse
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36 (?) whip and 160 thru 6 with about 56" whip--even more with a longer whip, but you just lose the upper bands. I had never messed with the mini-screwdrivers, but they DO work, and for someone that just won't abide a full-sized screwdriver, not a bad compromise. Shouldn't notice the difference above 40 Meters. We checked into the ECARS net on 7255 and got a great report from PA. He had never fooled with a screwdriver before, and got me to show him how to resonate it. The min-screwdrivers, as I said, are a good compromise and should do quite well for someone who wants a short antenna (less than 6' total extended), or the XYL won't let 'im put big ugly antennas on his vehicle They will not perform as well as the larger HF antennas because they use very small gauge wire wound on a small form. They won't accept much more that a couple of hundred watts without melting down--which really is not an issue for most of us. The serious HF operators running 75 Meter mobiles will usually have 2 or 3" bugcatchers or screwdriver antennas wound of #14 wire at 8 or less turns per inch. (Like the ones *I* make<img src=http://users.joplin.com/dutch64804/wavey.gif ALT=":wavey"> ) LOL!
But if you are mostly an occasional HF operator that works 75 meters rarely, the little Tar Heel and other smaller screwdrivers work quite well above 40 Meters.
73
CW Morse
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