[Hallicrafters] 40 m antenna used on 80 m - what to expect?

[Oliver J. Dragon]

Skip,

Sometimes ignorance is bliss. (my ignorance, in this case).

Upon receiving my Novice class ticket in 1960 I immediately put up a 
40M dipole about 25' off the ground and fed
it with 70' or so of RG-59 directly to the pi-net output of my just 
completed Knight Kit 50 watt transmitter.
I had two 40M crystals & had a great time. The SX-99 was connected to 
an 80' #12 copperclad longwire (the wire still
had the 'set' and coiled back up close to original shape when I took 
it down 9 years later). Didn't have to worry
about an antenna change-over relay - just turned down the RF gain on 
the SX-99 when transmitting.
Of course, both antennas were erected during a snowstorm - can you 
think of a better time?

Anyway, after about 3 weeks on the air I got the bright idea that 80M 
could be real fun, so I went over to
Harrison Radio (225 Greenwich St., in Manhattan and picked up two 80M 
xtals & proceeded to run the Knight straight
into the 40M dipole on 80M. No problem. Didn't know what the swr was 
(no swr meter); didn't know how many of the 35 or so input watts
showed up at the antenna (no wattmeter) but I worked up & down the 
east coast from NY; out to the midwest (Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis).
Had more fun on 80 than on 40. Less qrm andmore slow-speed guys to chat with.

Only problem was with harmonics. My 3704kc xtal doubled to 7408kc and 
careless dipping one day to the harmonic
earned me a 'special official reception report' from the FCC. Solved 
that by more careful tuning and a harmonic trap courtesy
of QST.

Bottom line - give the 40M dipole a try on 80 and you might be 
surprised. Have fun.

73
Ollie

At 09:14 PM 10/1/2008, Waldo Magnuson wrote:
>I have a 40 m dipole horizontal antenna and would like to try 
>transmitting (HT-44) on 80 m.  What should I expect?  I have a 
>Ten-Tec 229 antenna tuner and may be able to match - suggestions 
>(helpful) would be appreciated.  Thanks.
>73,  Skip  W7WGM
>
>______________________________________________________________

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