Rick, Chris bright up an interesting point regarding what may be different in the antenna if the ends of the wires are connected or not. He says (my understanding) that a Cage antenna has the distal ends connected together. If not, it is not a Cage antenna.
My question is, if I had a two wires dipole, exactly same length and close together, does the antenna behave differently if the ends are connected or not? Nizar K0NM. > On Jan 18, 2020, at 8:10 PM, orin snook via BVARC <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Well Done Rick! Much appreciated! > > 73, > KB5F/mm > From: BVARC <[email protected]> on behalf of Rick Hiller via BVARC > <[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2020 8:05 PM > To: BRAZOS VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB <[email protected]> > Cc: Rick Hiller <[email protected]> > Subject: [BVARC] Conclusions of the antenna technical question. > > The antenna is a "horse fence" antenna. Google it. 15+ strands of #30 > stainless wire, separated from each other and woven into a 1.5" wide strip of > plastic webbing....like a folding beach chair web. > > So I was looking for the magic that was claimed. After all y'alls comments, > one on one discussions and revisiting the web sites marketing material and > youtube videos, I certainly did not find it.. > > In the end, the multiple wires provide only a wider useable bandwidth on 80 > meters. Other bands too but 80 is the bandwidth eater. No other normal > antenna attributes are affected. The you tube video shows the antenna as a > mutiple band 80, 40, 20, 10 antenna and after listening to the video a few > times it is only by the use of an in shack ATU (tuner) that you get "flat" > SWR on 40 and 20. (That is another sore subject with me, but later). > > 80 meters, the fundamental band of resonance, requires no matching network, > just like a normal, single wire 1/2 wl dipole. The useable 3:1 SWR > bandwidth on 80 is pretty good at about 200 KHz...maybe a bit more depending > on how high you put it up. A single wire dipole bandwidth is around 50 to > 75 KHz 3:1 swr if you're lucky. > > So, in NEC modeling this antenna I did a bandwidth comparative model for a > single wire and found that a single, copper wire antenna had to have a wire > diameter of about 4 inches to have the similar bandwidth result. Of > course, there is no wire 4" in diameter available at Home Depot, so a > multi-wire "Cage" dipole, as a few had mentioned, is the way to go for > equivalence. > > I guess the benefit of the Horse Feather antenna is that it is a single 1.5" > wide material that is easily deployed. No putzing around with 15 individual > wires, just one interwoven web deployment on each side of the dipole. > > If this is something you think you can use......go to >> http://kf4bwg.com/ Horse Fence Antenna >> >> or if you wish to build it yourself....material etc. can be had at >> >> https://www.statelinetack.com/item/safe-fence-1-1-2in-wide-poly-tape-200-ft/SLT700567/ >> Fencing material. They also have the end, wire connection clamps > > I appreciate all that chimed in to set me straight. Kurt Sterba in World > Radio Magazine years ago used to write a column debunking the claims of the > fly by night antenna manufacturers. I wish he were still around so he could > comment on this horse feather antenna. Also, e-ham has a few differing > reviews posted. > > TNX ES 73.....Rick -- W5RH > > Rick Hiller > e-mail: [email protected] > > ________________________________________________ > Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club > Get on the air - 146.94 Repeater > Volunteer now for the Houston Hamfest > > BVARC mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org
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