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hf antennas


Probably the most common is the 1/2 wave dipole. Next is probably one of the 'shortened', multiband thingys. And then probably a vertical of some kind. The lower you go in frequency the more 'horizontal' antennas get. 20 meters is probably the lowest band where a vertical gives half way decent performance with out throwing a lot of money at them. A loaded vertical on 40 meters is a rather large thing, sort of. The more 'compact' ones are very narrow in usable bandwidth. Below 40 meters don't bother with a vertical unless you want to sink a lot of time and effort and $$$ into it. When they are done right, they really do work well. They are seldom done even close to 'right' though.
If I have a choice, I'll take a full wave loop on the lowest band I can possibly squeeze into the room I have available. Feed the thing with ladder line, through a good tuner, and use it just about anywhere. They're about like a woman. Takes a little while to 'get used' to them, but sure are nice when you do! (uh... they also have the 'other side' of being around a woman. I'll leave that to your imagination.)
- 'Doc

(I may be over-weight, but I ain't no 'crowd'.)
 
One of the more common antennas seems to be the tribander for 10,15, and 20m. The three element variety is popular. I use the Cushcraft A3 tribander for 10-20m and a dipole for 80m. I presently have a 300 foot longwire for whatever else suits me at the time.I have the tower to make a full sized 80m 1/4 wave vertical but no cash to put it up and do the right way.It is steel commercial tower from a commercial AM radio site and each section weighs 175 pounds. A couple more years and it should be up however. I need to do some landscaping in the area first.
 
rfoverlord said:
so what is the ham crowd running for hf freqs. ?????

Well I am running a Tarheel II in the mobile, you didnt mention mobile or base.

tarheeljk8lu6.jpg


tarheeljk13mg0.jpg


tarheeljk16id9.jpg
 
Happy_Hamer said:
Well I am running a Tarhel II in the mobile, you didnt mention mobile or base.

That's a nice install, going to be putting in an 857-D in an older Unlimited soon.

How is that setup working out for you? I'm going with a plain old ball and just swapping out radiators for now I think.
 
I run a dual polarity tubular Moxon beam for 10, 11, & 12 meters, and I'm going to make one for horizontal 17 meters (which I'm hoping will cover me for 15 & 20 meters), too. Then I have my 1/2 wave inverted V for 40 meter. No tuner yet (as I haven't needed one) but will get one sooner or later.

Been considering trying to make room for a Windom wire antenna. I've read nothing but good about them...but doubt I can get enough height on it. There are tons of good home brew and store bought antennas available for HF, but I tend to lean toward building my own over buying when I can. Living in the middle of a neighborhood with CC&R restrictions kinda' puts a damper on things sometimes. ;)
 
HH, thanks for the mobile shot. I am considering a Hi-Q 2.5/80 XTL since it doesn't change lenghts. i'm kinda nervous about the whole up/down along a dirty shaft and the winter months wearing out the seal along the shaft. I am currently running a 120' dipole fed with ladder line into a 4:1 current balun then coax into the shack. It is up 40' center and the ends are 12' off the ground it works. and the verticle is just the home brew 1/2 wave for 27 MHZ. both are fed with a LDG AT200-PRO which seems to work pretty good. I have a new 9-50 universal tower and i'm looking for a decent beam for 20-6. I was leaning toward a Mosely but the wait time is a little rediculous, so now i think it's going to be a Tennadyne T-11 http://tennadyne.com/index.html But looking at the reviews of some of the smaller ones on e-ham, and taliking to a few owners i may go smaller. :D :D 73
 
231 said:
I run a dual polarity tubular Moxon beam for 10, 11, & 12 meters, and I'm going to make one for horizontal 17 meters (which I'm hoping will cover me for 15 & 20 meters), too.
I would like to know how you got this to work. One of the critical measurements is the gap between the ends of each element. This gap is determined by the frequency. How are you getting one to work across 5 MHz? Please post some pictures too!
 
As MC indicated, the gap is frequency critical and this does not change much with the diameter of the antenna material. Also, the pattern goes kaput with frequency excursions much over 2%. You might be able to get a match with a tuner, but your signal might be warming the clouds.

Rich
 
rfoverlord,
I read your thoughts about the variable length mobile antenna's seals and getting dirty, etc. All things considered, it isn't as much of a problem as you might think. Sure, the inner shaft can get dirty, and the 'seals' will wear out, but normal maintenance takes care of those things easily. Can't comment about the 'HiQ' antenna, never saw one. But I've had one of the screwdriver type things and do know a little about them (one that definitely was NOT of the quality of the 'TarHeel' or any of the other commercially made ones).
The one 'problem' that was the biggest worry was the 'finger-stock' that was used to make contact with the moving coil. Easily solved, just use a spring 'wrapped' around the moving coil as the 'contact' instead. (Antenna Dark-Ages, as in when they first started showing up. The 'dirt' shield on the outside of the coil was also one of those 'brilliant ideas' of that 'age' in history. Remember those large plastic 'candy-canes' filled with Christmas candy at 'Wal-Mart'?? Yep, that's where they first came from - lol. Won't tell you where the 'spring' thingy came from, you wouldn't believe me anyway.)
- 'Doc
 

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