[K3PZN-List] 40m Wire

[Mark Rosenthal]

Rather than a receive antenna, more height is what you need. You should hear pretty well with a dipole on 40M at a decent height.  With a receive antenna and a transmit dipole at 15 feet you will probably get frustrated- you will hear many stations that have no chance of hearing you.
How tall is the tree?  Could you make that the center of the antenna and make it an inverted Vee?  A center up at 30 feet would make a world of difference.
Mark

> On Sep 17, 2017, at 8:29 PM, Kyle Thornton <kyle.3599 at outlook.com> wrote:
> 
> Mark,
> Yeah that's the next step is to trim it a bit. It's not doing bad. Just made a Dominican Republic contact on PSK with it. I'm going to need a receive antenna. Im getting people I can't hear at this point. 
> Kyle 
> 
>> On Sep 17, 2017, at 8:27 PM, Mark Rosenthal <marksro at comcast.net> wrote:
>> 
>> Kyle-
>> Curt is correct.  If this is meant to be a resonant, mono band antenna, it should be trimmed to have SWR as close to 1:1 as possible.  That will put the power into the antenna, and not wasted as heat in the tuner.  
>> 
>> At 15 feet elevation on 40M, most of the energy will be going pretty straight up.  It will be good as an NVIS antenna- don’t expect to get a lot of Dx.  
>> 
>> Did you consider a “fan dipole” with legs cut for both 40M and 20M.  (If long enough for 40, it’s long enough for 20!).  20M band, when open, gives much better Dx.  And at 15 feet, a better take off angle for better distance propagation.  Just an idea.
>> 
>> Mark
>> W3MSR
>> 
>> 
>>> On Sep 17, 2017, at 6:54 PM, Curt Milton via K3PZN-List <k3pzn-list at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Kyle
>>> don't worry about orientation -- as long as it is low to the ground (less than 60 feet !) -- it will not be directional.  just see what you can do at this height.  
>>> 
>>> 3:1 SWR?  I presume this is before using your tuner?  or did you adjust the antenna length to get 1.5:1 ??  if your antenna is still 3:1 SWR - tell us what it is at each end of the band -- and this will tell us if the antenna is too short or two long.  
>>> 
>>> if SWR gets lower as you go up in frequency -- the antenna is too short.
>>> if SWR gets higher as you go up in frequency -- the antenna is too long.  if this is the case - you can shorten it by twisting the wire onto itself at each end -- no need to cut or solder.  since you said 33 feet on each end -- my guess is your wire is a bit too long -- try to shorten each end by 6 inches.  it should improve.  
>>> 
>>> be patient until you get the SWR under 2:1 .... something like 1.5:1 is much better.  also, if your ground half of the antenna (that is, the half connected to outside of the coax) is not connected - this could also give a 3:1 SWR.  
>>> 
>>> Curt
>>> 
>>> 
>>>  On Sunday, September 17, 2017 6:19 PM, Kyle Thornton <kyle.3599 at outlook.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Hi all,
>>> With the help of Mike and Curt I now have a 40m dipole up at about 15ft stretched across the yard from a tree to a tripod. Each leg is 33ft long. It's positioned currently at about NW to SE because my yard isn't wide enough to put it up east west and still be able to guy the tripod with out going into the neighbors yard. I'm going to try this configuration out tonight when the band gets going and then will adjust from there. It has an SWR of 3:1 and I was able to get it tuned to 1-1.5:1. I'm happy with the way it's set up. Takes about 5-10 minutes total to completely set up and take down. 
>>> Kyle 
>>> KC3FMP 
>>> ______________________________________________________________
>>> 
>>> 73 de K3PZN Westminster, MD
>>> ______________________________________________________________
>>> K3PZN-List mailing list
>>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/k3pzn-list
>>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>>> Post: mailto:K3PZN-List at mailman.qth.net
>>> 
>>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ______________________________________________________________
>>> 
>>> 73 de K3PZN Westminster, MD
>>> ______________________________________________________________
>>> K3PZN-List mailing list
>>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/k3pzn-list
>>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>>> Post: mailto:K3PZN-List at mailman.qth.net
>>> 
>>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>> 
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> 
>> 73 de K3PZN Westminster, MD
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> K3PZN-List mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/k3pzn-list
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> Post: mailto:K3PZN-List at mailman.qth.net
>> 
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> ______________________________________________________________
> 
> 73 de K3PZN Westminster, MD
> ______________________________________________________________
> K3PZN-List mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/k3pzn-list
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:K3PZN-List at mailman.qth.net
> 
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html