[Antennas] 80 and 40 meter antennas

[fkamp@comcast.net]

Jim Isbell wrote:

> What you need is what I have.  Its a 96 foot inverted "L".  32 feet up
> and 64 feet horizontally fed direct with 100 ohms at the bottom on 40
> and with a capacitor in series at 80 I have worked all but one of the
> states in the past three months on 40 with only this antenna,  The one
> state I am missing is Delaware.  I dont think there are any hams there.
>  The distance isn't a problem because I have gotten all the states
> around delaware, just not DE.

This is the first activity I have seen on this reflector in a while.
Thanks for the replies.

Don recommends a double extended zepp and I'll bet it is a humdinger.
Trouble is I am located on a city lot.  I can put up a half wave 80 meter
inverted-vee.  Center at 45 feet.  Ends at 20 feet.  Even that leaves some
wire dangling at one end.

Jim recommends an inverted-L.  I will have to model that and see what it
looks like.  It reminds me of an antenna I used in my novice days.  Found
it in an old Popular Electronics magazine.  They called it the novice 90.
As I recall, it worked pretty well.  Even with the little room I have now,
I could probably put up an even larger inverted-L.

Here is a little background:

My current situation includes two masts, one up to 30 feet, another up to
55 feet. The masts are spaced 33 feet appart. The 55 foot mast supports a
KLM KT-34 which takes care of 10,15, and 20 meters.  The masts are guyed
with phyllistran.  Phyllistran is non-conductive and strong.

The 55 foot mast also supports an 88 foot dipole with center up at 45 feet.
The 88 footer is fed with open wire line.  One end of it goes to the top of
the 30 foot mast.  The other end goes to a tree in the side yard up at
about 20 feet.

Also, at the 45 foot height I have a 40 meter full wave loop.  Apex at 45
feet.  Ends at 15 feet.  It is at right angles to the 88 foot dipole and
works fairly well on 40 meters as a DX antenna.

Recently I surveyed my yard.  Measured it, and built a computer model of my
antenna farm.  I am using EZNEC (the DOS version) to evaluate changes and I
am looking for ideas to improve my low bands capability.

I am a little bummed out with results on 80 meters.  My 88 footer is a
cloud burner.  A full sized 80 meter inverted vee is just as good at
warming the firmament.  I even evaluated a full sized 80 meter dipole,
flat-topped at 50 feet.  It too is a good cloud warmer.  That is probably
okay because most of my 75 meter contacts are not further out than 500
miles.  Of course that may be because I am using cloud burners.

I took a look at shunt feeding the tower to use as a vertical on 80.  It
has a very good elevation pattern.  Main lobe at 24 degrees.  Looks very
promising for DX but the gain is -2DBi.  I suppose I could run the amp and
use a seperate, better, antenna for receive.  I am not really interested in
copper-plating the yard.

So right now I am looking for alternatives to what I have that can get me
some DX on 80 meters.  Perhaps something that will even allow me to play
around with a little 160 meter operation.  The inverted-L is something that
I need to consider.

Thanks,
Frank Kamp
K5DKZ