[Elecraft] OT: Sloper Dipole Question

Wed Jun 18 13:07:04 2003

Since a "sloper" antenna is an UNBALANCED load to the coax, a balun is
uncalled for and will not serve ANY useful purpose (except to swell the
coffers of the folks who sell baluns).

Just put the center conductor of the coaxial feedline (unbalanced) to the
sloping antenna element and bond the shield of the coax to the tower or
other metallic support (check your ARRL Handbook for more info).

Surprisingly, "sloper" antennas DO work!  I have a friend in Cerritos,
California that even uses a "trapped" version of the sloper to cover 160M,
80M, 40M and 20M.  It works lots of DX with what appears to be a fairly low
angle of radiation (slopes at about 45 degrees away from his 45-foot Rohn
tower).

Karl K - W8TIF
McKinney, Texas

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Vic Rosenthal" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 10:30 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT: Sloper Dipole Question

> [email protected] wrote:
> > Vic, K2VCO wrote:
> >
> > "Well, you would want the side with the highest current to be up.  I
> > wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to depend on the length of the
> > feedline.  Of course, you could use a balun and it wouldn't matter."
> > ==========
> > Why would it matter anyway?
>
> I'm assuming that if there are 'antenna currents' flowing on the surface
> of the coax, then the result will be that the currents in the two legs
> of the dipole would be unequal.  Because the leg with the highest
> current would radiate more, you would want that one to be highest, so
> that there would be less RF absorbed by local conductors and, on
> receive, less noise pickup from power lines, etc.  There might also be a
> slight reduction in the angle of maximum radiation, at least the
> horizontal component thereof.
>
> -- 
> 73,
> Vic, K2VCO
> Fresno CA
>
>
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