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The AV-100 model didn't have a cap hat. The AV-101 model did.

The DB

DB below is a link to the AstroPlane Patent in the late 1960's and it shows a top hat.

https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=03587109&homeurl=http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1%26Sect2=HITOFF%26d=PALL%26p=1%26u=%252Fnetahtml%252FPTO%252Fsrchnum.htm%26r=1%26f=G%26l=50%26s1=3587109.PN.%26OS=PN/3587109%26RS=PN/3587109&PageNum=&Rtype=&SectionNum=&idkey=NONE&Input=View+first+page

I've never seen a AV-100 model, and my old manuals don't show an AV-100. I checked the Way Back Machine and find nothing.

There was a version of the A/P included in the kit for the Astro Beam assembly. Could that have been the AV-100 we see here? It had a short vertical radiator without the top hat.
 
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There were a lot of these in the air back the 80's. One of my good friends had one. He also had the AstroBeam. Both excellent antennas.
The one I have was purchased from a forum member from another forum I'm on it was his father in laws. He passed away and he was cleaning out the garage and this was there, still in the unopened box. Said he purchased it back in the 70's and never installed it.
 
RT431, can you tell us what the dimensions are for the top element?

If you can tell us at what frequency the antenna shows the best resonance?
 
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Not sure the lentght of the top element, will have to find my book, the whole antenna is 12' in length. SWR is 1.1 across all 40 channels. No tuning necessary.
 
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When I setup my A/P with a full 1/4 wave radiator in the top instead of using a top hat, I started at 77" inches which was based on my estimating the length info in the manual for the AstroBeam driven element.

I did not see resonance in the CB band with the A/P top radiator at 77" inches, but I was using my antenna anslyser. The SWR was as you noted 1.1:1 across the 40 channels. But IMO that was good and was likely because this antenna is very broad banded.

My analyzer showed 77" inches was to short, so I made it longer until I got to 89" inches. I ended up with about 2" inches of overlap between these two pipes, and that is when my VA1 showed resonance at 27.205 MHz instead of higher in frequency near 10 meters.

See the image in the PDF file below. Sorry this image is set to the landscape view.
 

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  • AstroPlane with full 1_4 wave 89'' inches tall.pdf
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glad to see another astroplane thread!

I am just about to put mine back up after using an IMAX 2000 for the past couple of years.
I have some noise local to my neighborhood that i hope to reduce by putting the astroplane up as high as i can.

The IMAX sits at about 20 feet to the base, and my plan is to get the astroplane up to about 44 feet at the feedpoint.

I have also never heard of the AV-100, but am interested in trying out the vertical radiator idea instead of using the cap hat.
My testing will be completely anecdotal and not scientific at all.

Marconi, did you notice any differences in the radiation pattern using the 89" vertical piece?
this would really be the only reason i would try it.
LC
 

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