Zero-five antenna

[552fl]

I'm running a starduster now..how much improvement would a zero-5 give me?

 

[NightThumper]

NONE! In fact worst for 11 meters. I have a 43 foot zero five with about 60 radials. I only use it on 160 to 10 meters and use my Solarcon 2000 for 11 meters. I’ll let someone else get into the radiation patterns/angle.

 

[Riverman]

I'm running a starduster now..how much improvement would a zero-5 give me?

My guess is at the same height you'll see little or no improvement. It's just hard to beat a Starduster. I believe Marconi has done some comparisons between it and some other antennas. Maybe he'll see this thread and chime in.

 

[midnight special]

if you are talking about the zero 5 5/8 wave ground plane the only real advantage is it will take high wattage,, in a common setup not much difference,,,

 

[S&W357]

I had a Starduster years ago...great antenna. I say keep on Stardusting.

 

[Shockwave]

My question for the Zero 5 is why would they load the high impedance 5/8 wave with a shunt capacitor rather than just using the matching inductor to achieve 50 ohms? It seems counterproductive to use two matching devices on an antenna that only needs one to get to 50 ohms.

 

[Oscar Goldman]

It is a parallel tuned network.

 

[552fl]

wow,,

 

[552fl]

looks like with that amount of cost the darn thing would do something huh,,,

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

I have a starduster on my garage station. The only thing that i would replace it with is a beam.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

My question for the Zero 5 is why would they load the high impedance 5/8 wave with a shunt capacitor rather than just using the matching inductor to achieve 50 ohms? It seems counterproductive to use two matching devices on an antenna that only needs one to get to 50 ohms.

The added inductance brings the antenna to 50 ohms but it is reactive. The C is needed to cancel out the inductance added. At least that's why it is used in other antennas of similar design.

 

[552fl]

Thanks shade tree mechanic... I have a Sirio Sy - 27 4 element Beam on the horizontal side.. was just looking to upgrade on the vertical sideto a better antenna but it looks like I'll just stick with a starduster thanks for all the help

 

[Shockwave]

It is a parallel tuned network.

Now that makes sense since the tuned circuit will cause the RF voltage to rise and step the impedance up at the resonant frequency. One would think the additional tuned circuit would also reduce bandwidth. My mind couldn't see past the point that it's not needed and only adds another weak link in the chain on a high power antenna. It's not so hard to reach a 1:1 match with the right inductor and no added gamma.

 

[552fl]

Heck with it I'll just look for another kind of antenna maybe something better than a starduster..

 

[bob85]

When you find something better & often much more expensive than a starduster the difference in signal performance on air will be small IF you mount them at the same tip height and they are correctly installed / isolated so you don't have cmc messing with the results, unless its some form of collinear or beam,

my astroplane isolated 1/4wave below the hoop will give any of my other antennas a hard time at the same tip height.