Hi to all.

I guess I'll throw my 2 cents worth in.  I haven't ever experienced the B&W
antenna, and it sounds like I don't want to, since I have no intention of
running more than 100 watts here.  I currently run a G5RV, which I
primarily use on 80 through 20 meters, and I have a GAP Titan, which I
primarily use on 20 through 10 meters.  I am curious to know if anyone has
ever compared the G5RV against the B&W T2FD design.

To date, the multiband antenna that I've found to be the most efficient,
and I would run it here if I had a big enough yard is a design that I used
in my past QTH, and my sister, KA2GLP, is still using that antenna.  It
consists of a half wave inverted vee cut to 3820 KHz, which is set
perpendicular to a inverted vee that is cut for about 7050 KHz.  The are
strung off a common mast with the feed point up about 35 ft.  I had one
single piece of RG8X coming down from the feedpoint.  One leg of the 75
meter antenna and one leg of the 40 meter antenna were tied to the center
conductor of the coax, while the other leg of the 75m antenna and the other
leg of the 40m antenna were tied to the coax braid.

This antenna system was tunable on 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10, and 6
meters.  I used a Kenwood TS690S with the AT450 auto tuner, and it loaded
well everywhere.  My sister has used the Kenwood TS 440SAT on this antenna
with good results, and she has used an Icom IC-706 MkII with the AT180 auto
tuner with excellent results.

The antenna also offers the advantage that it is very rugged in bad
weather.  The wires coming off the top of the mast, when equally tensioned
in all directions help to guy the mast, in addition to serving as efficient
radiators.  The antenna is simple to construct and low cost.  The most
expensive pieces of the system are the mast, and the coax.  The only
drawback is that it takes quite a bit of space to set up, so it won't fit
in most city lots.  That's the only reason why I'm not running it now.  But
if you've got the room, it is easy to assemble, and has very few
compromises.  It has worked better for me than anything I've tried before
or since.

73, de Lou K2LKK



Louis Kim Kline
A.R.S. K2LKK
Home e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
Work e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
Work Telephone:  (585) 697-5753