Recently acquired a 50W 2 meter rig, and I'm wondering if using aJ-pole
made of 300-ohm twin lead as an emegency antenna would be feasable..or
would the rig be tuned for maximum smoke?

--
"The French have neither summer nor winter nor morals." -- Mark Twain

"Padraigh ProAmerica" wrote in message
...
Recently acquired a 50W 2 meter rig, and I'm wondering if using aJ-pole
made of 300-ohm twin lead as an emegency antenna would be feasable..or
would the rig be tuned for maximum smoke?

--
"The French have neither summer nor winter nor morals." -- Mark Twain


Search at google.com for twin lead j pole; twinlead jpole; jpole twinlead;
j pole twin-lead or some such combination. I found approximately 137,000
search returns whichever way I tried it. You didn't.

Afterward, search for the correct version of your insult against France.
It's misquoted.

"Sal" wrote in message ...

"Padraigh ProAmerica" wrote in message
...
Recently acquired a 50W 2 meter rig, and I'm wondering if using aJ-pole
made of 300-ohm twin lead as an emegency antenna would be feasable..or
would the rig be tuned for maximum smoke?

--
"The French have neither summer nor winter nor morals." -- Mark Twain


Search at google.com for twin lead j pole; twinlead jpole; jpole
twinlead; j pole twin-lead or some such combination. I found
approximately 137,000 search returns whichever way I tried it. You
didn't.

Afterward, search for the correct version of your insult against France.
It's misquoted.

To answer your question Pad,
Yes, 300 ohm feed line will do quite well for 2 meters at 50 watts IF it's
made correctly and you have a good match.

Kevin, WB5RUE

Quoted correctly or not it's still accurate.

On 7/31/2011 9:49 PM, Padraigh ProAmerica wrote:
Recently acquired a 50W 2 meter rig, and I'm wondering if using aJ-pole
made of 300-ohm twin lead as an emegency antenna would be feasable..or
would the rig be tuned for maximum smoke?


They say it can be done... Not my choice though. I prefer simple 1/4
wave ground planes as simple emergency or temporary antennas.
IE: a 1/4 wave ground plane can be made with five pieces of wire
and an SO-239 connector. Or a telescoping whip that can extend that
far, and four pieces of stiff wire for radials, which would be bent
out at about 45 degrees.
I think the 1/4 wave ground plane will be a better decoupled antenna
vs the usual J-pole, assuming no other decoupling methods are applied.
Another advantage is no matching schemes are required.

On 8/1/2011 4:38 PM, Kevin wrote:

Kevin, WB5RUE

Quoted correctly or not it's still accurate.


Ahh, the brothership of Hams - Good to see a friendly face here Kevin.


- Mike N3LI -

"NM5K" wrote in message
...
On 7/31/2011 9:49 PM, Padraigh ProAmerica wrote:
Recently acquired a 50W 2 meter rig, and I'm wondering if using aJ-pole
made of 300-ohm twin lead as an emegency antenna would be feasable..or
would the rig be tuned for maximum smoke?


They say it can be done... Not my choice though. I prefer simple 1/4 wave
ground planes as simple emergency or temporary antennas.
IE: a 1/4 wave ground plane can be made with five pieces of wire
and an SO-239 connector. Or a telescoping whip that can extend that
far, and four pieces of stiff wire for radials, which would be bent
out at about 45 degrees.
I think the 1/4 wave ground plane will be a better decoupled antenna
vs the usual J-pole, assuming no other decoupling methods are applied.
Another advantage is no matching schemes are required.


You have a point Mark. I agree that a simple 1/4 wave groundplane is more
study and very easy to make using an so-239 and some piano wire. Steel wire
can be soldered right into the back, four bolts with nuts and four more
peaces of wire around 19" long with a bit of a downward bend and you have a
very good antenna.

Kevin, WB5RUE

At least it's good to see that my posts are making it out!

The French, in the cities tend to be rude and arrogant -- kind of like New
York City but worse. In the smaller towns they are quite pleasant and
welcome tourists as long as they don't act like "rude Americans" and expect
"special treatment."

Kevin, WB5RUE

"Mike Coslo" wrote in message
...
On 8/1/2011 4:38 PM, Kevin wrote:

Kevin, WB5RUE

Quoted correctly or not it's still accurate.


Ahh, the brothership of Hams - Good to see a friendly face here Kevin.


- Mike N3LI -

On 7/31/2011 9:49 PM, Padraigh ProAmerica wrote:
Recently acquired a 50W 2 meter rig, and I'm wondering if using aJ-pole
made of 300-ohm twin lead as an emegency antenna would be feasable..or
would the rig be tuned for maximum smoke?


It won't smoke if the antenna is tuned, but you could get burned from
the rig or mic.

Those antennas need to have serious choking done on the feedline, at
least 2 a quarter wave apart on the feed just before the antenna.

Doing so helps make the pattern more like what is expected and reduces
hot radio and mic issues.

tom
K0TAR

On 8/1/2011 8:11 PM, Kevin wrote:


You have a point Mark. I agree that a simple 1/4 wave groundplane is more
study and very easy to make using an so-239 and some piano wire. Steel wire
can be soldered right into the back, four bolts with nuts and four more
peaces of wire around 19" long with a bit of a downward bend and you have a
very good antenna.

Kevin, WB5RUE


I'd use copper wire vs the steel or piano wire. They would work,
but I think the copper would be a better conductor. Steel in
particular is not too good. Also copper is a lot easier to solder to.
If you use solid wire of say 12 or 14 gauge, it's stiff enough to
stand up straight, but flexible enough to be bent and hold it's
shape.
If you are going to hang the antenna from something, you can use the
inner conductor of coax as the radiator, "shield stripped back 19
inches" and attach wire radials to the shield. All you have to do is
hang it up, and then bend out the radials at about 45 degrees, and you
are ready to become radioactive.

For a deluxe version, shave off the covering of the braid a 1/4 wave
below the radials at the feed point and add a second set of radials
to the braid.
That version would be well decoupled. Would blow most J poles out of
the water I suspect if you want to concentrate on the horizon, vs up
at some peculiar angle which is fairly useless for VHF/UHF.
Decoupling of the feed line is more important than radiator gain on
those bands. IE: a 1/4 GP can often outperform a 1/2 wave vertical if
the 1/2 wave has little or no decoupling. Which is the case for most
1/2 wave J poles.

"Kevin" wrote in message ...

At least it's good to see that my posts are making it out!

The French, in the cities tend to be rude and arrogant -- kind of like New
York City but worse. In the smaller towns they are quite pleasant and
welcome tourists as long as they don't act like "rude Americans" and expect
"special treatment."
-
I personally had terrific interactions with people in France. However, it
is still a lot of fun to have jokes at their expense