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Economical HF all-band antenna

C

C W Morse

Active Member
Apr 3, 2005
1,022
12
48
Retired
I have no connection with this company, but check out the Cobra Ultralite HF antenna! This thing covers 160-10 Meters in the long version and 80-10 for the shorty unit. I bought the 140 foot one, and it really does the job!
8)
www.w1jek.com

73

CWM
 

$90!?!?!!?

For a wire antenna! :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:


100' of 450 ohm 18AWG ladder line..............$21.00
WA1FFY Ladder-Lok...................................13.95
132' of 14AWG insulated wire.......................17.16
Miscellaneous shrink tube/solder/etc...............5.00
End Insulators (2)..........................................40
___________________________________________
A 80-10 wire antenna...............................$57.51
 
The pictures are good enough to allow you to make it yourself. I'm still trying to figure out what the center supports are made of. I will be building the 73' one.
 
181 said:
$90!?!?!!?

For a wire antenna! :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:


100' of 450 ohm 18AWG ladder line..............$21.00
WA1FFY Ladder-Lok...................................13.95
132' of 14AWG insulated wire.......................17.16
Miscellaneous shrink tube/solder/etc...............5.00
End Insulators (2)..........................................40
___________________________________________
A 80-10 wire antenna...............................$57.51
Click to expand...

Um,

I think that it requires MORE than 132' of insulated wire. This is a FOLDED dipole that actually will require more than TWICE (?) the wire. :) You would be making this antenna with about 150 feet of 3-wire rotor control cable (I believe this has 3-maybe 4 wires of equal length so the cost would be more than that. The Senior covers 160 thru 10 and this is the one I bought. Sure, I could make it myself, but it is not quite warm enough yet, and I admit, I am getting lazy (ier) in my older years :D . With this one, all I had to do is drop the old dipole and hang the other one! I gained a couple of bands I didn't have before like 160 and another military band.

No matter, I like the antenna and it works better than the last one (I made that one) and I think it is a good deal. Appears to be a good deal, and the US Army is using it in Iraq! I thot it might be something for hams and SWL'ers who might not be able to "roll" their own! ;)
 
Actually it is not a true folded dipole as that would require that the ends be shorted and form a really long skinny loop.It is a linear loaded dipole however.Simple construction and not really worth the money IMHO when a normal dipole and the same ladder line feeder will let you work all bands just as well.Linear loading is fine when trying to get a mono band antenna to fit a small lot but why not just go for the normal dipole config and ladder line? There is no advantage to this configuration as far as I can see.
 
All true. Just trying to keep it simple, not to start an argument.
It is an option for *some*. In my case, my auto-tuner doesn't have connections for ladder line, tho I can transition it in several ways. One of my own goals was to get on 160. With my lot size I cannot erect a full-size 160 dipole. There are other options like shunt-fed towers, inverted L's, etc. When I saw the Cobra, I thought I would try it. I did, it did what I wanted it to do, and I am happy with it. 8) I just thought it might be a good solution for some of us as each one's requirements are different. Everyone approaches all problems, not just radio, differently and sees the solution differently. Another radio buddy of mine, when I showed him this, immediately trashed it. ("I can make something better, this won't work well as......... and so forth, etc, etc") But that is the thing about CB and ham radio. We all see it differently, and each hobbiest will approach it from a different angle. It is also why there ARE so many different antenna designs out there! Some of us can build whatever we need. Others may be new and don't understand antenna-building (yet), but they want to get on the air right now. Some may not WANT to build their equipment/antennas. All is OK. :D

Based on the requirements I had at this time and the cold weather and wind (today was cold and windy), I just thot I would point people towards this antenna and let them make up their own mind if it is something they can use. I happen to like it. :)

Best 73
 
C W Morse said:
All true. Just trying to keep it simple, not to start an argument.
It is an option for *some*. In my case, my auto-tuner doesn't have connections for ladder line, tho I can transition it in several ways. One of my own goals was to get on 160. With my lot size I cannot erect a full-size 160 dipole. There are other options like shunt-fed towers, inverted L's, etc. When I saw the Cobra, I thought I would try it. I did, it did what I wanted it to do, and I am happy with it. 8) I just thought it might be a good solution for some of us as each one's requirements are different. Everyone approaches all problems, not just radio, differently and sees the solution differently. Another radio buddy of mine, when I showed him this, immediately trashed it. ("I can make something better, this won't work well as......... and so forth, etc, etc") But that is the thing about CB and ham radio. We all see it differently, and each hobbiest will approach it from a different angle. It is also why there ARE so many different antenna designs out there! Some of us can build whatever we need. Others may be new and don't understand antenna-building (yet), but they want to get on the air right now. Some may not WANT to build their equipment/antennas. All is OK. :D

Based on the requirements I had at this time and the cold weather and wind (today was cold and windy), I just thot I would point people towards this antenna and let them make up their own mind if it is something they can use. I happen to like it. :)

Best 73
Click to expand...

You're right. To each, his own. I would rather put the money towards another radio toy, then spend it on wire.

You can transition from ladder line to coax via a 1:1 balun. Since tuners don't like a low impedance (as much as they do a high one), I personally wouldn't recommend the 4:1 balun they're suggesting.

I sure as heck wouldn't feed it with coax all the way to the radio, if I was to use it for multiband use. Way too lossy. At most 20' after the balun, and then only the best coax you could get.

No, coax is not lossy at HF frequencies. Coax presented with high SWR IS.
 
I was thinking of building this antenna but, as previously stated my tuner wont take a ladder line either. I have a 1:1 Balun, How much coax would I have to use if the ladder line in 100' and I use the 1:1 Balun?
 
CDX126 said:
I was thinking of building this antenna but, as previously stated my tuner wont take a ladder line either. I have a 1:1 Balun, How much coax would I have to use if the ladder line in 100' and I use the 1:1 Balun?
Click to expand...

How much over 100 feet is your antenna from the radio? :D There is no proper length with this antenna.Just use whatever it takes to get you there but use as short a length as possible.
 
The antenna has 100' of ladder line. It will be about 30' up which will leave a measurable amount of excess ladder line to coil up. I think I have around 20'- 30', of RG-213 coax and two 6' pieces. what do you think?
 
You can't coil ladder line, and you can't run it near metal objects. It's a little different than coax in those respects.

Antenna
Ladderline
1:1 Balun
20' MAX of RG-213
Tuner
Radio
 

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