stacking maco beams

[Sidewinder357]

how far apart should i stack maco 7 element verticals ? is the stacking kit maco sells ,known as mbsk which makes them 13 ft apart . i have people telling me that it isnt far enough apart . any suggestions ? i hope to put some up soon

 

[Marconi]

how far apart should i stack maco 7 element verticals ? is the stacking kit maco sells ,known as mbsk which makes them 13 ft apart . i have people telling me that it isnt far enough apart . any suggestions ? i hope to put some up soon

357, if you don't know the answer to this question, then you should not start off with such a setup. These very large setups are generally not a good idea installed in busy neighborhoods in cities and towns---even if you have an acre or two. The size alone draws too much attention and you will likely get blamed for every appliance problem in the immediate area and you can't hide it. Even still, this would not stop a keyer from owning your ears.

If, however, you want to be the biggests, baddests keyer around, then go for it, but the antenna is the wrong way to go in my opinion.

 

[DXman]

Sidewinder,
I don't know the answer to your question either. I have only heard of just a couple people over the years that have ever did this. Most people will usually run with just a single antenna.

If it was "I" that was doing a vertical, I would go for a single 5, far less amount of work, cheaper.

I would think the spacing that comes with stacking kit with probably work ok tho, but that's just a guess.

 

[Wire Weasel]

A single 7 element 11 meter beam isn't enough beam power for you? That's hard to believe. But good luck to you anyway. Folks want what they want and there's nothing wrong with that.

The stacking kit Maco sells will work just fine. I assure you it has been engineered properly.

 

[Mr Clean]

A guy not far from me has stacked 7s vert and one flat on another tower. I think he uses the maco stacking kit but will have to ask him to make sure. He goes by Makers Mark. Said he gets about 2 db more out the front over a single 7. You may get 3db with more spaceing. Very tight patern.

 

[n8fgb]

The advantage to stacking is 3 db gain and without narrowing the beam width. If you are looking to improve gain and narrow up the beamwidth. Then lenghten the boom, add an element and wide space them..
Rich

 

[Sidewinder357]

i think ill go ahead & order a set of maco 7 s tomorrow & stack them 65 ft in the air & use a hazer tram to lower & raise them in bad weather & wind . i plan on useing 10 kw from an old henry tube amp so ill have to change the gama matches , i think ill get over the dead keyer then , well i might just turn into a dead keyer for a while , thanks all for the info

 

[hotrod]

ive seen them stacked as close as 9ft.but these were mounted horizonal

 

[Mr Clean]

Ive started getting ready to put my beam up. Im going with a 5 element Maco H/V at 60 ft. Got everything I need except coax and rotator cable.

 

[555]

deadkeyer
if you have someone plugging your ears it wont matter if you have 4 macos on seperate 50 foot towers
hes still going to plug your ears
if you cant hear to talk to anyone then he got you
now you can get more than hes got and talk over him
and then everyone will make fun of him and his little deadkey and then him getting walked on

now if you really want to be awesome
and you have the funding for the project

2 towers 50 foot tall have a rotor on each tower
each tower 100 foot apart

need to upgrade the rotor wire cable so both rotors will get enough voltage from box to work and you only need 1 rotor box

get you a M-105 or m-106 mount both horizontal and leave the ducks behind.

make sure both beams can point in the same direction every time
and you wont need the 10,000 watts
you can run 1000 and be devasting

but back to the deadkeyer
he wont be able to stop you from keying the mic so your talking
but if his got your ears pinned back then you cant hear who you talking to

 

[hotrod]

deadkeyer
if you have someone plugging your ears it wont matter if you have 4 macos on seperate 50 foot towers
hes still going to plug your ears
if you cant hear to talk to anyone then he got you
now you can get more than hes got and talk over him
and then everyone will make fun of him and his little deadkey and then him getting walked on

now if you really want to be awesome
and you have the funding for the project

2 towers 50 foot tall have a rotor on each tower
each tower 100 foot apart

need to upgrade the rotor wire cable so both rotors will get enough voltage from box to work and you only need 1 rotor box

get you a M-105 or m-106 mount both horizontal and leave the ducks behind.

make sure both beams can point in the same direction every time
and you wont need the 10,000 watts
you can run 1000 and be devasting

but back to the deadkeyer
he wont be able to stop you from keying the mic so your talking
but if his got your ears pinned back then you cant hear who you talking to

yea i was thinking that also just mount your 105 or 107 on the flatside
that will reduce him or even take him out of the picture all together.unfortanely
youll hear him on any verticle beam no matter how big it is

 

[KingCobra_CDX882]

I believe stacking is supposed to be about 18 ft apart
(for the original question)

Although it is said one will get a 3Db gain in stacking
in reality is closer to 2.4 or 2.5 Db

Would need to have a lot of property and very tolerant neighbors
in order to stack beams like that

Myself..
I prefer getting a larger antenna and use far better coax/feedline to get a stronger signal out

stacking HF beams are not easy and expensive and require far more maintenance (especially if you are in a stormy area)

However...That being said...it indeed will give you a great and Strong Signal ..
Especially if you have already made the quality of each separate beam as good as can be..

What about more Height ?

 

[hotrod]

with beams of that size i wouldnt go any higher than 36ft.1 wavelenth
you,ll bneed alot of guy wires if ya go higher than 36 with a beam of
that size much less a stacked one.i do agree should use high quailty
coax lmr400 or 9913 equivelent

 

[aa1mike]

i am close to ordering two 4 element beams and stacking kit from maco.
may go with one 5 element.
after the heavy slush snowy storm that took our power out in Michigan today i think the 5 is more practical from the maintenance side of it.

 

[Mr Fort Worth]

I have found that slope detection or sliding up or down on the freq. can help you to listen thru a deadkey. Switching to USB or LSB while recieving also helps. When recieving the AM transmit on SSB thru a dedkey it can be pretty scratchy sounding but with a little practice it becomes quite a valuable tool.

P.S. dont aknowledge the DK is even there. If you dont play back then the DKeyer will get bored playing with themselves.