Help me decide please: Only 1 QRP antenna setup

Started by K7JLJ, May 13, 2015, 07:56:47 PM

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gil

QuoteQuestion:
Inverted L
Sloper
Or straight elevated

The issue would not be of efficiency, but radiation pattern. I would go for the sloper with the lower end toward the receiving station, fed at the bottom of course. Don't forget to get a slingshot and fishing line/weight(1oz). I have never needed a pole, most often found a tree tall enough to go full vertical. I do use the LNR 40/20/10 trail wire/trap with a couple different end-fed tuners. Sometimes I still end up with a sloper, and never noticed a performance difference.

Gil.

K7JLJ

Thanks guys... A vertical? I thought that was a bad thing? 

In my country I can probably always find a tree to use for a sloper or vertical? But not always to setup an elevated horiz so I thought a pole might be a good idea but would rather not have it.

Maybe I could stop asking R so many questions (thanks for being Patient with the newb) if I had a good antenna book.

I thought about getting the ARRL one.  Is there a really good one out there that explains theory and application better?


- Jim
-Jim

gil

QuoteA vertical? I thought that was a bad thing?

Nooooo :o  ;)

People complain about verticals because they use quarter-waves, and they require a good ground, often meaning lots of radials, which they don't bother doing properly, so results suffer... There are ground losses too...

However... We are talking half-wave here, not quarter-wave ;D Your antenna is complete as it is!

Half-wave verticals radiate at a low angle, which is very good for DX. They also radiate equally in all directions, which in our case is great, since we don't quite know who we're going to be talking to...

Now if you want to talk regionally on 40m during the day, you would install your EFHW horizontally, not too high, to use NVIS... It's like spitting up in the air, it comes back down nearby...

Antenna radiation for a half-wave is perpendicular to the wire, with the most radiation in the middle (high current in the middle, high voltages on the ends). So, theoretically, your half-wave vertical should be radiating at zero degrees to the horizon... Because of the proximity of the ground the angle is more like 10 to 30 degrees, depending on ground conductivity and height, ideal for hitting the ionosphere far away while avoiding obstacles near the ground, like, say, trees, cows, hills and such..

Gil.

Lamewolf

Have you ever considered an Off Center Fed Dipole ?