Hi Lee, Gary, et al In my opinion trying to roll your own as far as the electronics goes is "a dollar chasing a dime" mentality. I have a Hi-Z 8 Circle and is clearly the best 160 rx antenna I have ever used. When you use this antenna for the first time you will never think about your VISA card HIHI. I want to thank Lee for all you help in constructing, trouble shooting, etc. My elements are about 21 feet and I use the new amp if that is what it's called with the enclosures I got from Mouser. 73 Hardy N7RT/4
-----Original Message----- From: Topband [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Lee STRAHAN Sent: Friday, August 26, 2016 3:58 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Topband: active antenna height Hello Gary and all, The answer to your question depends on how quiet your location is. If you have an extremely quiet location I would go with another section of tubing for 23 feet overall with the Hi-Z. If your location is pretty normal for noise then 18 feet or so will be fine with the Hi-Z array. There are times here in the early morning when the band noise drops below my array noise for a short period of time and I have been using 20 foot elements. Another point to consider is 3/4 inch fiberglass rod is easy to get and has proven strong enough for element insulators. Adding a few feet of 3/4 tubing to each element would make your insulators much easier to construct and increase array gain. You can always add more length later as you see the need. Four inches of overlap has seemed to work well. Lee K7TJR >I've decided to make the plunge and buy one of the 8 element active >arrays for 160M-40M. Looking at the price for the antenna kit, it's just too much considering the cost of the electronics, so I need to roll my own. I was thinking of getting the Telescoping Aluminum Tubing that comes in 6' lengths from Texas Towers; .375", 5" & 6.25". If I slide each inside 6", that'll come to a 17' tall element. Is that sufficient height? Would adding another 2-3 feet make any difference with these kind of active antennas? 73, Gary KA1J _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
