- Feb 4, 2013
- 28,175
My new wire will not be here until late this week, early next.
And then I have to get it up.
And then I have to get it up.
So what antenna are you getting?
When testing resumes: if you test through the Laurel VEC, there is no charge for testing. I passed both Tech and Gen on the same day.Don't forget the strategy of just taking both elements at the same time even though you have only studied for the tech. Often doesn't cost anything and then you can study the General stuff at your leisure if you accidentally pass it.
That is the exact antenna I have. I was very impressed with it's construction and operation. I was able to talk to the owner/builder, NI4L, and he was very helpful. I did have to put a choke (just wrapped about 15 turns of the coax around a tube) to make it work properly.
I initially had mine up at about 55 feet in the trees, but after installing my tower I had to lower it to about 35 feet. Still works great and the reduction in height didn't seem to adversely affect like I thought it would.
Good luck with it!
Thanks. Glad it worked well for you.
What size tube for the choke? And where did you place it in the feedline?
For mine, the center will be about 25 feet. With the ends about 8 - 12 feet.
The long leg will be lower, since the backyard is a story lower.
When testing resumes: if you test through the Laurel VEC, there is no charge for testing. I passed both Tech and Gen on the same day.
I used an eight inch piece of corrugated plastic drain pipe. Made wrapping the coax very easy, then used some tie wraps to hold it all together. I placed it about fifteen or twenty feet off the ground which put it about thirty feet below the balun.
It did seam to weigh it down a little more and I seemed to have some sag in the line with the balun being the low part of the antenna. I have since replaced that choke with a Balun Designs 1:1 common mode (current?) balun just because I'm anal. I secured that to the house so there is now less weight on the coax/antenna. That also works great. I think I got the balun for about $65 direct from Balun Designs. Maybe overkill though.
Initially I did not have the center supported, just had it pulled tight between the trees with cinder blocks on the line connected to the ends of the antenna. When I re-hung it, the trees I used were much further apart and it did sag some in the middle, so I tied the balun top eyelet to a line and pulled that up a bit from another tree.
It works great for me and I wish you good luck with it.
Great info on your page; thanks for posting that!Sounds like you have a nice set up.
You can see my antennas on my QRZ page at K3MSP
If you call Balun Designs they will help you out, even if you don't buy their stuff. They stopped me from detuning my Cushcraft A4S when setting up my balun.
Good luck.
Yes, a balun is a form of transformer, with windings that are a ratio to each other. The primary winding is the input from your transmitter and will be close to 50 ohms impedance. The secondary will be wound in the correct ratio to correct the antenna impedance.I'm sorry for the ignorant question, but what is a Balun?
I know it means Balance-Unbalanced but I'm not exactly sure how it works on an antenna. My limited understanding is if you have an antenna which presents a different resistance than 50 ohms, you use a Balun to equalize that to the standard 50 ohms for the feedline.
Is that a correct understanding?