Pat:

In my opinion, go for the LDG tuner whenever you can.

It's nice to have something available to tune antennas when the rig's 
auto-tuner just doesn't cut it.

I'll keep you posted on my antenna dilemma here;  sure hope I can get 
something resolved before too much snow flies.

Tom Behler: KB8TYJ

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pat Byrne" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 7:58 AM
Subject: Re: Cobra antennas


> Well Tom, I completely understand and wish you will with the antenna.
> A radio club friend stopped by last weekend and we did some
> straightening out of the Windem.  It had sagged and got caught under
> a roof shingle but with a bit of effort on both our parts and a 30
> foot telescopic fiberglass pole, we dropped the west end of the wire,
> hooked the stuck part and released it and I held it away from the
> roof with the pole while Roberto pulled it back up in place.  So,
> hopefully I am good for the winter.  A bit problematic with both ends
> of the antenna in trees.  So my fingers are crossed.
> And I'm trying to decide if I want an LDG tuner - cheapham.com has a
> good deal on them and I think it would be more effective than the
> internal tuners, but I don't really want to do it until after I buy
> some Christmas presents, when I might no longer be able to afford one!!
> Off to work for me as well.
> Pat, K9JAUAt 06:07 AM 11/28/2012, you wrote:
>>     Pat:
>>
>>I'm getting ready to head off to work now, but let me just respond quickly
>>this way:
>>
>>You are not an old fart, and really, your thoughts here are good!
>>
>>One thing I'm going to do before I completely give up on the 80-meter 
>>sloper
>>is see what happens if the main radiating element is oriented differently
>>than it is now.  That can be done with a little help from the sighted XYL,
>>who I bet I could bribe with a dinner out or something.  (grin)
>>
>>It's just that I don't have a lot of support structures and trees at the
>>home QTH here, which makes things a bit challenging.
>>
>>Will keep at it, though, and let you know how I make out.
>>
>>It's off to work now.
>>
>>Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Pat Byrne" <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 11:07 PM
>>Subject: Re: Cobra antennas
>>
>>
>> > Just thinking out loud Tom.  Perhaps the missing half of the sloper
>> > is inadequate for 75 meters.  Perhaps the angle of the wire effects
>> > the minimum SWR.  But, how does the antenna work?  If you didn't know
>> > that the SWR was high would you suspect that your compromise antenna
>> > is letting you down?  Can you wangle enough space to get up a
>> > temporary 75 meter dipole and be able to switch between the two wires
>> > to see the difference?  Would that tell you anything?  I believe that
>> > you have found that adding coax to the feed line lowers, in theory,
>> > the SWR.  I guess what I am asking is are you being misled by an
>> > arbitrary meter reading that may in fact not mean too much.  And
>> > certainly I can be wrong as can be and that your gut and your meter
>> > are telling you that the antenna stinks!
>> > To end all of this rant; when I was a kid in the hobby I put up
>> > antenaes cut to a quarter wave, particularly on forty meters
>> > according to the formulaes and, knowing what I know now, they were
>> > probably way too long since they were pretty low.  But I didn't have
>> > an SWR meter.  I had a Windem fed with 300 ohm TV twin lead which I
>> > now know was an awful match but the PI network forced power somewhere
>> > so I was convinced that I had a great antenna.  I guess that
>> > ignorance was bliss!  Perhaps if there are other hams in your close
>> > area, you can work QSOs with them and see at a distance how your
>> > signal compares.  Okay, I'll stop sounding like an old fart!!
>> > Good luck my friend.  Antennaes are really a fun part of the hobby.
>> > Pat, K9JAUAt 08:22 PM 11/27/2012, you wrote:
>