Steve:
Thanks for these additional thoughts.
Unfortunately, the tower and beam are out of the picture right now, due to
finances.
Also, there is some question as to exactly how long we will remain in
Michigan, since retirement is hopefully only four or five years away,
although it is way too pre-mature to consider specifics at this time.
This is why I'm thinking of wire antennas, at least for now. They hopefully
will get me back on the air in some form, with fairly minimal cost.
73 from Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2010 5:51 PM
Subject: Re: Need some input on HF wire antennas for the Michigan house
Tom,
If space is not an issue, why not do some phased dipoles rather than
perpendicular ones? I also am not sure what kind of interaction you'd get
between the two antennas that are the same length set perpendicularly to
each other. The only setup I saw with perpendicular dipoles had the
80-meter in one direction and the 40-meter 90 degrees opposite to it.
As for the Cobra UltraLite, it sounds like a nice antenna. But, the coil
design, read shortened design, means it will be compromised on the lower
resonant bands. So, you won't get 75-meter performance equivalent to a
dipole using the 73-foot version.
To add to your antenna considerations, if you are going to be a Michigander
for some time to come, maybe you just want to get a new tower. If you put a
beam on top, you could get a sloper and use the tower as part of the design,
with the beam being a capacitive tophat. They really work well.
As for RG8X, I wouldn't worry about it on the lower frequencies. I have an
AL811H and have fed mine with 600-plus watts up to 21MHz with no problem. I
wouldn't use that stuff on VHF of course, due to the higher lossses.
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