[50mhz] RE: Home-Brewing a 50 MHz Dipole

[n5wbi@clearsail.net]

Let's see ... Eight responses in less than 2 hours!  Awesome!

Thanks to everybody who replied!  Here's a synopsis of the
responses that I received.

[1]  Check your coax to make sure it and the connectors are
in good shape.  Coax and connectors degrade over time.

[2]  Make sure that the length of your coax feed line is
ODD multiples of 1.4 wavelength.

[3]  Use 9913 flexible coax instead of the RG-XX type.

[4]  Cut the dipole legs too long to begin with, then trim
as you tune.  Use the "sweep" method (with proper ID's, of
course) to check the SWR as you move up in frequency,
starting at 50.000 MHz.

[5]  Adjust the cut length of each dipole leg for velocity
factor (if you're using insulated wire).  The velocity
factor is around 0.9, so the equation becomes 468/F * 0.9
Or, you could use the standard equation and trim for best
SWR.

Like I said, LOTS of good suggestions!

Thanks, everybody!  I'll let you know how all of this
turns out.

73,

Steve N5WBI
Houston TX  EL29