The question is not "How would you set up a contest station?"… it is "What is practical to keep on air in a Senior Living situation?"
Now if you have a bunch of grand kids you can talk into installing radials all the better. Or if you have a fence along which you could install an elevated counterpoise all the better. But my central contention is that wire is going to outperform a GAP below 40 meters. On Dec 12, 2012, at 12:54 PM, Guy Olinger K2AV <[email protected]> wrote: > With the following caveat: The very sparse and short buried radial systems > he is showing are FAR more lossy in practice than shown in his gain tables. > Four twenty foot buried radials beneath a 1/4 wave L on 160, could place you > down 20 dB. You really can't do that as your 160 meter counter poise and > expect decent results. You can end feed the same wire on 80/40/30 meters > (full wave worth of wire in the L on 80m) with four buried 20 foot radials > and it will be an excellent antenna. This is due to the high Z feed at the > ground with current max AWAY from the feed point. > > A quarter wave L on 160 MUST deal with the counterpoise loss issues, one way > or another. > > 73, Guy > > On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 2:07 PM, Ashton Lee <[email protected]> wrote: > This wonderful article written by L.B.Cebic W4RNL sure can make you a > believer in a simple wire inverted L. It is the last antenna discussed. > http://www.users.on.net/~bcr/files/backyard%20wire%20antennaes.pdf > > A $3 wire pulled up into a tree will beat just about any commercial antenna… > because it is longer. So on low bands it has increased band width and > efficiency, and on higher bands it has gain. Yes, I know , some of that high > band gain is horizontally polarized, but that's not all bad. Just get the > vertical portion 33 feet or so and you'll be happy as Larry. The article > shows that an extensive radial field may not be necessary. > > And a wire is a lot less visible than a big hunk of aluminum. Without trees, > just top load a 43 foot (or possibly even shorter) vertical. The top loading > could be a T just as easily as an L. People can argue that one all day. > > > > > On Dec 12, 2012, at 11:30 AM, k6xt <[email protected]> wrote: > > > My first antenna, still in use, on moving to CO is a GAP Titan, advertised > > to load up 80 thru 10 including WARC bands. The Titan is a bit shorter than > > Voyager, 28 feet or something like it. The advertising is correct, it loads > > up 180 thru 10. > > > > But wait. Is it effective on all those bands? No. > > > > On 80 its a dummy load. On 40 it works extremely well after I added a one > > foot extension to the bottom wire that encircles the antenna. In some cases > > it is the equal of my shorty HyGain 40 at 70 ft - which probably says more > > about the HyGain than the GAP. For the rest its better on the traditional > > bands than the WARC bands. It worked a lot of DX for me for the couple > > years it was my only antenna. > > > > Carrying my experience to the few feet taller Voyager, and from what I've > > been told by Voyager users, the ant will meet its spec which is to load up > > on the low bands. Expectation wise I'd expect it to be like the Titan. It > > loads up but is otherwise a dummy load. Maybe with a batch of radials it > > could be made to work as well as any other extremely short vertical or GP. > > > > Not to say there's anything wrong with GAP. My brother had up an R7 which > > he rated about like the GAP on bands both cover. Those multiband halfwave > > short verticals work but you get what you pay for. > > > > 73 Art K6XT~~ > > Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm. > > ARRL, GMCC, CW OPS, NAQCC > > ARRL TA > > > > On 12/12/2012 10:00 AM, [email protected] wrote: > >> With the prospect of downsizing and moving into senior housing in the > >> future > >> I am starting to look at vertical antennas that will allow me to continue > >> this wonderful hobby.? I have heard "some" good things about the GAP series > >> of antennas but the company says they do not need radials on most of them > >> and that worries me.? Over the years I have become very skeptical about > >> claims and the other BS put out by most companies ( maybe it is a function > >> of age I dunno) so I wonder if these antennas really work.? The two > >> antennas > >> that I am interested are the Voyager DX for 160/80/40? and the Eagle DX for > >> the rest of the bands. > >> > >> So my question is.... does anyone have actual experience with these > >> antennas > >> (especially the voyager) as compared to other antennas for a specific > >> frequency.? Now guys .. I know you cant really compare a 6 element beam to > >> a > >> vertical of this kind but I am talking about a comparison that is > >> realistic.. like how does it hear, tune, match & get out compared to > >> something like another vertical or a dipole up some reasonable distance. > >> > >> I sure hope this has not opend another can of worms.. some how I seem to do > >> that .. private emails are ok..especially it the topic gets out of hand and > >> we get a large volume of comments (Tree please dont shoot me before > >> Christmas my wife will miss me.) > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Topband reflector - [email protected] > > > > _______________________________________________ > Topband reflector - [email protected] > _______________________________________________ Topband reflector - [email protected]
