I have used the 80/40 combo for over 40 years. It works great for 80, 40 and 15 and not bad for 10. It does not work very well for 20, 17 and 12 and I have had poor results trying to add a third element for 20 meters. I have had good results with and without a balun. It may make some difference, but I think mostly to the pattern and it is not really noticeable. I have used RG58, RG59, RG8X, RG8 and TV coax and all work well.
Cookie, K5EWJ --- Don Wilhelm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Tom, > > If you are not adverse to a separate antenna for 80 > meters and you have > the space, I highly recommend a full size 80 meter > dipole. About 136 ft > long radiator and center fed with coax. It should > work (and feed > easily) for 80 meters (but is a single band > antenna). Ideally, it > should have a 1:1 choke balun at the feedpoint, but > you will likely not > notice any difference if you feed it directly with > the coax. It can be > either horizontal or hung as an inverted vee. Get > it up as high as > possible - I would say on 80 meters 30 feet is a > minimum, 60 to 70 is > much better. > If you want 80 and 40 meter coverage, you can > install an additional set > of antenna wires at the feedpoint each about 33 feet > long - run these > wires as close as possible at right angles to the 80 > meter antenna wires > to reduce interaction. As the 80 and 40 wires are > closer together they > react more and more. Tune the antenna lengths for > the lowest SWR at the > midpoint of your band segment of interest. Tune the > longer antenna > wires first, then tune the shortest ones. > You could add more bands, but the tuning gets more > cumbersome when more > bands are added. 3 bands is practical, 4 is > possible, but in my > experience any more than that is a recipe for > frusstration when tuning. > The ends must be spread out as far as possible to > keep things sane. > > In this case the coax will closely match the > feedpoint impedance of the > antenna(s) which makes the feedline length > unimportant. > > 73, > Don W3FPR > > T W wrote: > > Hi, Group, > > > > Can anyone tell me what length of end-fed line > works best on 80M using a KX1 > > with ATU? I'm having a heck of a time trying to > find a length that will work > > with 80M and 40, 30 and 20. I know the ATU is not > really designed to tune > > 80M effectively. It would be nice to have one > antenna to do all bands, but > > if not a separate wire for 80M is okay too. > > > > Cheers, > > Tom > > _______________________________________________ > > Elecraft mailing list > > Post to: [email protected] > > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > > > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: [email protected] > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com > _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
