[Hallicrafters] 40M dipole on 80M

[DALE PARFITT]

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

Hi Ollie,
I don't find this surprising as I regularly work across the USA on 1-2W on 
80M.

My guess is that there was no balun (or at least not a current mode balun) 
on your antenna and the outside of the RG-6 did a lot/most  of the 
radiating.

Dale W4OP