Howdy All, I was listening to the net last night and John, K5IZO, was encouraging folks to get on 75m. Yay!
I¹ve been working on a project for a number of months. Some of you know that I use a TTFD antenna. TTFD or T2FD. It stands for Tilted Terminated Folded Dipole. This antenna is not widely known because it¹s not featured in any ARRL publications at least since 1949. There are some good reference sources such as the RSGB wire antenna book. There are also some detractors that don¹t understand the theory of operation. Here¹s a link to the original article: http://www.scribd.com/doc/42625655/An-Experimental-All-Band-Nondirectional-T ransmitting-Antenna-T2FD You¹ll notice that the antenna is a 600-ohm design. It is a balanced antenna. Perhaps Rick Hiller and I should give a presentation on it. I¹ve been using the B&W version for a number of years, but want to run higher power. That means a better matching transformer for 50:600 ohms and also a more robust terminating resistor. The antenna works well from 75 to 10m with 1.5:1 SWR or better on all bands. This is because it¹s a traveling wave antenna. Mismatch is soaked up by the terminating resistor. No tuner is needed. The antenna works from the lowest frequency up. That means a 80m antenna works on all bands from 80-10m. A shorter antenna works from 40-10m. B&W says 6m, but I¹ve not tested my high-power balun for 6m yet. I never promise what I haven¹t tested. I¹m hoping to bring a completed unit of the high-power design to the club meeting on 9/10 so y¹all can look at it. I should probably fire up N4HPG.com website and post some pictures. If you can have only 1 antenna, this is the one to have. I like to hunt DX and change bands without having to tune. Get as long an antenna as possible! The folks at B&W now want $825 for their version. That¹s insane! But they sell mostly to military and governments. I¹m making one antenna for myself that will be all my build. I¹m also making a heavy-duty one for N5XZ. Being gainfully unemployed and having a workshop, I¹m testing the waters to see if others might want one. When we put up an antenna, the neighbors usually notice. I¹m making my version with 14awg white MTW wire and clear, acrylic spacers for the antenna and the ladder line. The balun box mounts on the wall and transforms the 50 ohm unbalanced to 600 ohm balanced. It¹s a 6x6x4 box because there are 4 toroids. Based upon present materials, I believe I can produce the standard antenna 1kW for normal operation for $349. I¹m still working on the N5XZ 1.5kW RTTY Contesting version that will be a bit more. If you want to build your own, feel free to steal my design! For those who would like a built and tested unit, let me know. I¹m trying to decide if I should get into the antenna business. 73! N4HPG Bill Crowell Pearland, TX
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