Hi.

Enough to make a decent connection.  We fashioned our own center insulator, 
but you could get one of the commercially made center insulators with an 
SO239 conector molded into the insulator.  That would be the simplest way 
to do it because then allyou need to do is put a PL259 on the end of your 
coax, and attache one leg of the 75 meter and one leg of the 40 meter 
inverted vee to one terminal on the insulator and attach the other leg of 
the 75 and the other leg of the 40 meter inverted vee to the other 
terminal.  Make sure that you get or make the kind of insulator that has 
some way to hang the insulator off of your mast and if the wires have any 
possibility of touching the mast, make sure that you have some type of 
insulating material covering the wire.  It is best to try to tension the 
vees such that the insulator is offset from the mast by a couple of 
inches.  Also make sure that whatever you do that you seal your connections 
thoroughly--regardless of whether you make a direct connection between the 
wires and the coax or buy a commercially made insulator with a connector, 
water will be your enemy and will easily make its way into the coax if you 
don't seal it six ways to Sunday.

As for best practices for sealing connections, that could start a whole 
other discussion.  Whatever you do, keep in mind that the approach you take 
must stand up to extremes of temperature, moisture, and ultra violet light 
exposure.

73, de Lou K2LKK



At 01:52 PM 3/30/2008 +1000, you wrote:
>how much exposed center conductor and brade do you need to accomplish
>this? or do you attach some kind of connector to be able to spread the
>wires far enough apart.
>
>Shaun
>web sites:
>http://www.myspace.com/blindmanshaunoliver
>http://blindman.homelinux.org/~blindman/
>skype: brailledude
>
>
>On 30/03/2008 1:49 PM, the old scribe known as Louis Kim Kline was able
>to impart this pearl of wisdom:
> > Hi.
> >
> > I forgot to mention the reason why I made them perpendicular to each
> > other.  It is very simple, really.  When they are perpendicular, there is
> > almost no coupling between the antennas, and that greatly simplifies 
> tuning
> > the antennas for resonance on 3800 KHz and 7100 KHz.  If you fan them, 
> they
> > will interact with each other a little, and you'll end up fudging the
> > tuning a little.  They still work, but keeping them perpendicular is just
> > easier and cleaner.
> >
> > 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) 697-5740
> >
> >
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Louis Kim Kline
A.R.S. K2LKK
Home e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
Work e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
Work Telephone:  (585) 697-5740