Mike, if I recall correctly, VE6WZ uses 160m parasitic array with shunt feed tower.
73 Mirko, S57AD V V pon., 20. jul. 2026 ob 14:04 je oseba Michael Tope <[email protected]> napisala: > Tim, > > I am curious, is there any reason why the center tower in that array of > yours could not be shunt-fed? I suppose that might require de-tuning the > tower in order to adjust the parasitic elements, whereas with a base > insulated tower you could just open-circuit the driven elements. > > Do you know of anyone who has made this sort of array work with a > shunt-fed tower as the primary support? > > 73, Mike W4EF............ > > On 7/19/2026 11:22 PM, Tim Duffy wrote: > > Speaking of base fed insulated towers on 160... that happen to be 90 > degrees > > high (about 120 feet) - by design... I have had this for over 30 years - > it > > is what I think is the best vertical antenna array for 160 that I have > > found. Bandwidth performance is narrow - but it tunes up easy and it > really > > works. AA1K, VE3EJ, K9CT, W5ZN and NR5M and others all use the K3LR Yagi > > vertical design. WA3FET and K3LC worked with me on the early designs. > > > > This is a very effective gain antenna (almost 6 dB) with good front to > back > > ratio (30 dB and can be used on RX with attn.) is described in editions > 3,4 > > and 5 of the ON4UN Low Band DXing book by ARRL. Only takes a single 120 > foot > > tower (all tower sections must be Cad welded together). It is a Three > > element vertical parasitic beam (shoots in four directions). BUT needs > FIVE > > radial systems of 1/4 wavelength radials... I use 120 radials per > element - > > one quarter wavelength long - 130 feet. > > > > The most recent version of this antenna has been updated by work (28 > pages) > > from Greg, W8WWV here: > > https://www.k3lr.com/engineering/160m/K3LR160m2024Revisit.pdf > > > > This is currently what is in use at K3LR. Twice this array/station at > K3LR > > worked more than one hundred countries in a single CQWW CW weekend on 160 > > (48 hour contest). > > We have just installed a brand new broadcast style radial system (all > silver > > soldered) for all five vertical elements - this summer of 2026 (old one > was > > 35 years old). Thanks W3YQ for engineering the installed solution. > > > > The performance is spectacular. > > > > 73 > > Tim K3LR > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Topband [mailto:[email protected]] On > > Behalf Of Rob Atkinson via Topband > > Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2026 8:29 PM > > To:[email protected] > > Subject: Re: Topband: The Big Guys > > > > you can have a broadcast tower that's too tall for 160 m. which > > results in high angle lobes. For this to work well you need one for a > > station that's up near the top of the broadcast band. A good way to > > tell is whether or not the tower is lamped. The ground system > > certainly helps but a ham can put in a good ground system on his own > > monopole. Don't believe that only broadcasters can do this, although > > nowadays a lot of radials on 160 costs a lot more than they did 25 > > years ago. These antennas will likely stink on receive. You'll just > > pick up noise. Expect to have to set up some sort of separate receive > > arrangement. By the way, there are and have been a few hams with base > > fed insulated towers and ground systems on 160. They don't chase DX > > or contest so you may not have run across them. > > > > 73 > > > > Rob > > K5UJ > > > _________________ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband > Reflector > -- Mirko S57AD _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
