[Elecraft] cobweb antenna

[Geoffrey Downs]

I've been using a Cobwebb from G3TPW for over 2 years and it works very 
well. Putting it together was pretty straightforward and it's mounted on a 
mast that rests at 25ft but can be raised to 40ft when it's not too windy. I 
resonated it roughly in the middle of each band. No atu needed for 18 and 24 
and the K3's internal atu or the KAT500 will easily cope with it at the 
upper and lower ends of 14, 21 and 28. For some reason it goes off resonance 
a bit in wet wx but again nothing an atu can't deal with.

Advantages: Small footprint, low visual impact, good wind survival, 
omnidirectional so no rotator needed, copes easily with the UK power legal 
limit (allegedly will handle 3kw), low noise on rx.

Disadvantage: Lacks the gain you would have with even a small beam but I've 
not found this a worry and usually if I can hear 'em I can work 'em.

To give you an idea of what a cobwebb will do - a few weeks ago on 17m my 
KX3 (no atu) and I had a 10w SSB qso from here to WA (W7 land). Our report 
was 53 with the cobwebb at 25ft.

73

Geoff
G3UCK

-----Original Message----- 
From: Bill Blomgren
Sent: Friday, May 31, 2013 3:27 AM
Subject: [Elecraft] cobweb antenna

I came across a nifty square thing called a cobweb, which is more or less
semi-flat over 4-5 bands... is very light..and can be made of pvc pipe or
possibly fiber glass because it just has 5 wires in a big square.. One
antenna to cover 20 17 15, 12 and 10 meters sounds interesting.. One of the
designs even works on 6, but has higher losses... (That may be the baluns
they use for a 4-1 impedance match and to go unbalanced...

Has anyone tried one of these critters, and if so, is the Elecraft happy
with it?