[K3PZN-List] May Meeting - Antennas

[Curt Milton]

Can someone recap highlights of last nite's meeting ? 


Duty kept me from what I guess was an enjoyable
meeting last nite ?  (My son had a college graduation,
had to take some of his stuff, then stop at daughter's
college to get some of her stuff home last nite).  

Had I been there I may have shared a few of may
antenna experiences (none earth-shaking):

1. dipoles can work without a center feed - my
off-center fed dipole puts its ladder line feed closer
to the shack.  its mostly for convenience, but it does
produce a little gain off the end on higher bands.  

2. a ten meter quad can be homebrewed easily, and it
produces effective gain over simpler antennas.  (my
PVC and wire 10m quad is history -- gee i would love
to find some better quad spreaders for the upcoming
sunspot cycle).  

hint - it is very easy to make one of these for 6
meters!  

3. a modest vertical can work well on 80m.  i used to
think planting radials onto the ground is a waste of
wire!  but not having the supports to erect a 80m
dipole at 60 feet, I tried a top-loaded (commercial)
vertical on 80m and it (along with nice propagation)
exceeded my expectations.  vertical is only 27 feet
tall - its essentially a pole with no matching at the
bottom feed.  it has elevatated loading coils for 80
and 40 meters and modest capacity hats.  i suspect it
could be homebrewed, but i took the easy route and
ordered it from Cushcraft (model MA8040).  

4, the camping 2 meter antenna.  well i once used a
mag mount attached to my coleman stove - but it kinda
got in the way.  a vertical can easily be made from
number 10 housewire -- its just an upside down Y
mounted onto a RF connector.  

73, curt