[Elecraft] OT: Stupid question about excess ladder line.

[n5ib at juno.com]

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oooops, once again I replied to the wrong list  :^))

On Wed, 21 Jun 2006 09:53:31 -0400 "Darwin, Keith"
<Keith.Darwin at goodrich.com> writes:
>I just picked up a dipole fed with ladder line.
>The antenna has 100 feet of parallel feed (window ladder line) and 
>there is no way I'll need that much. 
>So what do I do with the excess?  


Hi Keith,

A really neat scheme is to go ahead and cut the ladder line, but install
a set of  3 Anderson PowerPole connectors. If you put a dummy third
connector in the middle as a spacer the two outer ones are almost exactly
spaced for the ladder line.

You can put Anderson connector sets on each end of several pieces of line
of varying lengths and can then mix-and-match when you get to a field
location. I always carry a 40', couple of 20' and a 10' with me whenever
I head to the field. Add an 80' run and you'd have BCD  :^))

A short pigtail of ladder line with Andersons permanently attached to the
balanced line terminals on a tuner makes it quick and easy to attach and
remove feeders.

If you worry about tension pulling them apart, just use a cable tie to
secure the connection.

73 
Jim, N5IB