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You're right, I miss stated some things in that post. You are also wrong about a couple of your opinions of what I said. For example, where in that feed line you put that meter, -unless- there is no standing wave at all, absolutely does change what that meter will read. Have you ever seen an...

C.K. You're right, those additions would certainly work. But the 'catch' to that is that the antenna's and feed line's impedance are almost never the same, so what I said still holds true. The differences in what the meter will read doesn't have to be large by any means, but that still means...

:) Sorry, you are mistaken, The reading of an SWR meter can certainly change because of it's placement in the feed line. Try it, see for yourself. ... I am not telling you that you get a 'true' 50 ohm impedance match by only using a 1/2 wave feed line. I basically described common...

If you buy from a reputable dealer, then they will offer a warranty of some kind. If they don't, then I would have to think twice about the dealer, or the amplifier/radio/whatever. Expect to pay for a reputable amplifier, they are not free. I look for bargains too, but I seldom find one...

If you have limited space then it's not a bad antenna to try. It does take some tuning! It will never be as good as a full sized antenna, but, it's certainly better than nothing. Ditto the 'round-toit' thingy...

Ready for some 'blasphemy'?? That SWR meter is very easy to fool. It's positioning in the feed line will determine what the resulting SWR reads, with absolutely no change in the antenna system (antenna and feed line). It's terrible way to try to gauge how your antenna is doing. If the...

There are a lot of 'myths' you hear about coaxial feed lines and how they can 'destroy' your radios etc. In something like 50 years of playing with radios I have never see coax -melt-, burn up. I've certainly seen it damaged, but there's quite a difference between the two. Coax gets blamed...

I think your best bet would be to find an affordable all band HF radio. Who says you might not change your preferred bands later? They really aren't that expensive, and is more convenient in the long run. The 'sticky' part of used radios is that you just don't know what you're getting till you...

How high? As high as is practical for you. Quit at about an 1/8th of a mile...

Put t.hat vertical on top of the beams. How much separation? As much as you can get and still be practical about it. Of course they will affect each other, but that's not always worth worrying about. That 'affect' will be constant, not variable, since the two antennas don't change their...

You can make a lot of different types of antennas work on any frequency, it just depends on how much trouble you wanna go to. I have, and don't mind using a tuner. I also like using 'ladder line' when possible. the combination of those thingys means I really don't care what the antenna...

Don't get too tied up with those numbers, they will almost never come out exactly right. Everything around that antenna can affect it, so the exact length is variable to make the thing work in some specific situation. Tuning an antenna is what makes an antenna work well in the situation it's...

Hmm...

This is a little late, so for what it's worth... That vertical part is -half- of the antenna. There has to be another half for it to work. that other half can be a couple of radials of the right length, or just a wire of the same length of the vertical thingy, making the whole thing a 1/2 wave...

If you have a Hand Book laying around take a look in the antenna section and you will find a way of seeing what the antenna conductor's diameter has on things. Mainly deals with length in relation to diameter. Untill the diameter gets to an appreciable part of a wave length, there will be no...

BJ... I appreciate it, thanks. Began on a Monday, Hospital on Thursday. No Idea where it came from. One more day and it'd have been to late.

Chain-link fence top rail will only hold so much. It was never made to do that sort of supporting, so why expect it to? The heavier the 'sidewalls' the more sideways pressure a pipe can take. Schedule 40 steel pipe would be the minimum I'd consider if there's going to be much 'wind-load' on...

I don't quite see a point in enhancing the value of 'entry' class licenses. The point is to give someone a 'taste' of what this hobby is about. If they think it's worth doing then do it. Sounds a lot like giving a 'learner's licensee unearned privileges. Why not just give licenses away in...

Not in order... 'Tiger Tail' or 'rat's tail', same thing different name. Call it a moneky's tail, that'd work too. Nope, 63 feet (there abouts) is a 1/4 wave on 80 meters. The part about 1 or maybe 2% efficiency is still right. (It'd be about a 1/8 wave on 160m though...) Paul Sorry about...

And just for grins... A simple 1/4 wave antenna on an HT will certainly do better than the regularly supplied 'duck'. There's also a 'trick' with that 1/4 wave, add the 'other-half' to it and have a 1/2 wave antenna. That 'other-half' is commonly called a 'rat's-tail', a piece of wire about 15...