[Boatanchors] Valiant on 160, Antenna Opinion

[Al Klase]

Hi Scott,

A 200-foot center-fed doublet with low-loss line and a
decent tuner is a good compromise.  This is similar to the 
popular G5RV-inspired antennas that are 100 feet long and 
cover everything from 3.5 up with a tuner.

If you put up a true half-way antenna on, for instance, 160, 
it's likely to be a difficult match on 80.  By splitting the 
difference, and using low-loss line like the 450-ohm twin 
lead, the tuner can generally pull it to the desired 
frequency with reasonable efficiency.

Your problem may turn out to be that the Matchbox was not 
designed for 160.  I have seen some mods somewhere.

I've been running a 100-ft doublet as my primary antenna for 
80-10 for years.

73,
Al

Al Klase - N3FRQ
Flemington, NJ
http://www.skywaves.ar88.net/


Freeberg, Scott (STP) wrote:
> I was just telling Mac WQ8U that I brought my Valiant off
> the backroom shelf and back into the radio room after a
> serveral year absence.  I blew up the Valant back then
> while trying to get on 160 meters with my 80 meter
> dipole, 450 ohm ladder feedline, Heath SA2060A.  I set
> her on the shelf never got back to fixing her.
> 
> The Valiant is back and I'll start troubleshooting her.
> I'm guessing that I likely blew out some output coupling
> capacitors due to horrendous mismatches while fidgeting
> with the 80 meter antenna on 160.
> 
> To that end, I'm thinking about adding as much wire to
> the antenna that I can to get closer to 160.  Its
> currently an 80 meter dipole around 135', fed with 450
> ohm ladder line.  I use it as an allband antenna with the
> Johnson KW Matchbox.   I might be able to add 30' to 40'
> to each end, resulting in more like 200'.  While I
> realize it isn't 260', 200' is alot closer to 260' than
> 135' is.  Then maybe the Heathkit SA2060A will have a
> better chance of tuning.
> 
> Does this sound reasonable, anyone doing this, or am I
> terribly confused?