[CTSARA] December Meeting - Building a ZS6BKW Antenna

[Jon Perelstein]

At our December meeting, we're going to demonstrate building a ZS6BKW
antenna from scratch.

The ZS6BKW is the successor to the G5RV.  It's a multi-band 80-6 meter wire
dipole.  ZS6BKW started with the G5RV and then conducted extensive computer
modeling to increase the gain, flatten the SWR a bit, and smooth out the
lobes.  It's also about 10 feet shorter than an equivalent G5RV.  The
antenna must be fed with 39 feet of 450 ohm ladder line and also must have
at least 70 feet of coax feeding the ladder line.  The coax and ladder line
together form a matching network that brings the SWR below 2:1 (mostly
below 2:1) on the 6, 10, 12, 17, 20 and 40 meters and below 3:1 on 15, 30,
60, and 80 meters.

We're going to start with pre-cut wire and ladder line, but will make the
center insulator (not just a ceramic egg) and the coax-to-ladder line
interface out of PVC piping and compression joints.  We'll put it together
as finished product that can be mounted immediately.  We'll also talk about
the theory of the G5RV/ZS6BKW antennas.  We'll also show how to tune it
when mounting it.

*****

The meeting will take place Thurs Dec 1 at 8pm, Stamford Government Center
(888 Washington Blvd) in the 6th floor Safety Training Room.

73
Jon, AI1V