[PaQSO] Antenna recommendations

Wed, 10 Jul 2002 16:06:45 -0400

Howdy folks,

Great seeing all the activity, especially when considering it's all about
one of my favorite topics - what antennas to use for the PaQP?  

A smart man once said "it depends on your aspirations, that is, do you want
to kick some aspiration or do you mind having your aspiration kicked".
Seriously, I agree with what my good friend Ed, WA3SES said (paraphrasing)
in that your goal(s) in this contest contribute heavily toward your antenna
selection(s).  That is, if you are in it to drain every last contact out of
the masses of participants, then you probably want to look at antennas
designed specifically for each band.  That combined with picking the right
times to make band changes (this also involves some measure of luck), will
usually provide you with a steady flow of Q's.  But let's stick to antenna
talk for now.  Band changing could be a topic for another thread!

I also go portable every year which in my case means wire antennas.  Here is
a rundown on various antenna configurations I've used in the past:

	1.  G5RV for 80, 40, 20 and 15 and a vertical for 10.  G5RV is much
like the Windom 80 in that it sings great on 80 and 40 but is just alright
for 20, not so good for 15 and pretty bad on 10

	2.  Windom 80 for 80 and 40, 20 meter dipole for 20 and 10, and
worked 15 on whatever would load.  Obviously didn't do real well on 15 that
year.  

	3.  80 meter horizontal loop, Windom 80, and a 20 meter dipole.
Received rave reviews about my signal on 80 and 40 that year but turned in
one of my lowest scores ever.  Go figure.  For the time it took to install
the loop, I doubt that I'll do that again.  But hey, that's what this hobby
is all about.  Trial and (hopefully not too many) error.

	4.  Individual dipoles for 160, 40, 20 and the Windom 80.  This
worked the best as the 40 meter dipole works quite well on 15, and the 20
worked okay on 10.  Had all the bands covered.  

I have to say however that 160 is a strange bird and is very dependent on
activity (guess this is true about all the bands huh?).  I do recall however
that the year after Ed got his kazillion contacts on 160 I made it a point
to erect a dipole for that band.  It took me at least 3 hours to get that
thing up and I got no more contacts on average than I did previous years
without it.  That's not to say a 160 dipole is not worth doing.  That's only
saying you just never know.

Anyway, here's my antenna configuration for this year (at least as of July
10, 2002 at 3:45pm eastern):

	- 80 meter dipole (using the shorting stub on this antenna makes it
work pretty well on 160)
	- 40 meter dipole (this antenna will also be used for 15 meters)
	- 20 meter dipole (this antenna will also be used for 10 meters)
	- If time and space permits, I may erect the 160 dipole.  I'm going
to a different cabin this year in Warren so I 	can't say whether there will
be room for a 160 dipole.

That's it folks.  Hope I didn't bore anyone to tears but as you can see, I
love talking about this stuff.

Regardless of our configurations, here's hoping that my antennas become good
friends with your antennas and that they talk loudly, and frequently!

Best Regards,

Bob, N3FR	

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Kempisty [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2002 12:09 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [PaQSO] Antenna recommendations

All,

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.

--
Take care,
Mark

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