[PaQSO] State Lands AND SWR on multiple antennas

[w3tdf at juno.com]

Mark,
When I operated portable in POT about 7 or 8 years ago, I was
in the area under the Fire Tower about 4 miles South of Cherry
Springs. The ranger people were very accomodating.  I was inside
a (long since demolished) cabin in the middle of a clearing,

Now to the SWR.  
As mentioned before I have operated portable for many years, and
have learned a lot about the dipole antennas and their proximity
to each other.  Remember that the feed point is the high current
point. Since there is very low voltage there, there is no apparent
interaction between the dipoles.  HOWEVER, at the high voltage,
ends,  there is quite a bit of detuning.  My experience is that the 
greatest ill-effect is with the 40M antenna. In order to maintain a
reasonable SWR thereon, I make sure that the end is not closer
than 6 feet from the other dipoles, AND, I use double insulators,
with dacron line between them, spaced at least a foot apart.
For some unknown reason, the effect is not near as evident with
the 80M end being near the 160 dipole, but I strive to keep them
separated anyway.  Hope this is helpful.

de
The Grump