[PaQSO] Antenna recommendations

Wed, 10 Jul 2002 10:44:19 -0400

Sent this to Mark only first time...

----- Forwarded by Ed J Miske/K-CORP/KMT/KMT on 07/10/02 10:44 AM -----

                    Ed J Miske                                                                                     
                    /K-CORP/KMT/KM       To:     [email protected]                               
                    T                    cc:                                                                       
                    07/10/02 10:43       Subject:     Re: [PaQSO] Antenna recommendations(Document link: Ed J      
                    AM                   Miske)                                                                    

Mark wrote:
>The past couple of years I have run a low (about 28 feet) G5RV from home
>and had excellent results.  Unfortunately, the G5RV had to be retired
>after last year.  I have been thinking of making (or buying) a new one
>but the Carolina Windom 80 caught my eye.

>What are the collective's opinions on it?  Also, has anyone been able to
>get it to work on 160?  I usually make a brief foray there but it
>amounts to less than 20 contacts.

I hope Mark's question generates some chatter here about antennas.

I could talk for hours about this subject (and I have done exactly that,
with N3FR and a cold draft...sometimes I think N3FR is dozing off while I
prattle on).

I've been operating portable since 1990 in the PaQP, so my comments below
are coming from that perspective. I have used three different antenna
configurations.

1. Dipoles for each band (160, 80, 40 and 20 meter home made wire dipoles;
the 40 loads great on 15 and the 20 works on 10)
2. A Carolina Windom 80 as the main antenna with a 20 meter dipole for 20
and 10. (The Windom gets a little "shakey" the higher up the band you go,
but is great at the lower bands).
3. A G5RV with a 20 meter dipole (roughly speaking, same note as #2 above).

My best results have come with configration #1, and that is what I will use
in the future.

If "ease" and "simplicity" of setting up a portable operation is a major
consideration, option #2 is a very viable alternative.

If I were doing a rover operation, I'd definitly use the Windom 80; it
would be the only antenna I would install at each location.

If "time", "money" and "space" are not an issue, I strongly recommend #1.

A "modification" to alternative #1 would be to replace the 80 meter dipole
with the Carolina Windom 80 (backup/alternatives for other bands).

Here is my opinion of the Windom 80, "band by band"; (and my opinion is
worth exactly what I am charging for it):

160 Meters: Windom 80 performs about 50% as good as dipole cut to 160,
maybe a little less. And, it can be a bear to load. I have to short it out
so that it appears as a long wire and use an external tuner.

80 Meters: Windom 80 performs (at least) as good as 80 meter dipole

40 Meters: Windom 80 performs to maybe 80%-90% of 40 meter dipole.

20 Meters: Windom performs to about 50% of 20 meter dipole.

15 Meters: Windom performs to about 25% of a 40 meter dipole loaded on 15
(the 40 meter dipole loaded on 15 with the rig's internal tuner is my 15
meter antenna)

10 Meters: Windom performs to 10% of 20 meter dipole loaded on 10 with
internal tuner.

Regarding Mark's comments about "a breif foray" and "less than 20
contacts": My best performance's on 160 meters have come when I installed
the 160 meter dipole. I managed 125 Q's on 160M in 1996, (a record I've yet
to come close to), the first year I put up a dipole cut to 160. I've also
managed 75 in 1998 using the dipole. The other years I  used a shorted
Windom 80 or a shorted 80 meter dipole and my #'s were in the 35 to 55
range. So it's a question of "how important are those additional 20 or 40
or ??? 160 meter QSO to your score? and how important is your score
compared to your "having fun" index? 20 additional CW Q's on 160 meters can
mean 5000 points or so (assuming 130 mults), so how important is 5000
points to you? Is it worth the effort and aggrivation to get a 160 meter
dipole "in the air"??

Each year I "intend" to put the 160 dipole up, but some years I just run
out of time; I'd estimate it is a 3 hour or so process to get it installed
when I set up at my parents home in Johnstown. I'll be in Prince Gallitizen
Park this year, which is where I was in 1996 when I had my best ever
results on 160, but I'm in a different cabin and not certain I will have
room for a 160.

SO, how about some input from the others? What works for  you? Are you a
portable, rover or home station? (I don't mean to leave mobile's out, but
we all know how simple it is to mount a Windom 80 on a vechicle,, hi hi).
What have you tried? What do you like best. What is important to you? Ease
of installation? Or do you do everything you can to get one more QSO?

73
Ed/WA3SES