[Antennas] question regarding dipole

[Don Havlicek]

Joe,
Is there any way to run the dipole straight across the length of the
deck, and then drop the ends down to make the entire length 1/2-wave?
That would work a lot better than 'lumping' parts of the wire.  Each of
those 'lumps' is an inductance that would change the center frequency
and bandwidth of the antenna.
If you have 40' of deck length, that would mean you would have about 13'
'hanging down' at each end .. maybe you could even tie them at some
angle OUTWARD from the deck, putting the entire antenna at about the
same relative height.
Just my thoughts  .. shortened antennas are not as efficient as
full-sized antennas.
Don - N8DE

Joe Falcone wrote:
> 
> Hello:  I want to run a dipole for 40 meters, 33 feet for each leg, under my second story deck.  I was  going to use insulated wire and staple the wire to the underside of
> the
> supports of the deck. Purpose of the antenna is just to hook up to when I am on the deck to work some  100 watt CW.
> 
> I am going to fit the 66 feet of dipole into 40 feet by simply running the wire in a pattern like this  _|~~|__|~~|________ center __________|~~|__|~~|__   You get the
> picture.  (I made the top lines wavy only because I did not know how to type them straight.  The wire  will run in straight lines).
> 
> My question is:  Is there some type of rough rule of thumb on changing the lenght of the wire if you are  going to shorten the total lenght of the area that the dipole is going
> to fit into, or doesn't it matter?  Would I still use the 33 feet?  This antenna will be up about 8 feet  from the ground, but the land slopes away from the house.
> 
> Thanks, Joe. N8TI
> 
> - - -
> 
> Your moderator for this list is:
> Larry Wilson KE1HZ antennas-owner@mailman.qth.net
> _______________________________________________
> Antennas mailing list
> Antennas@mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/antennas