Hi there ladies and gents. I have a question that has most likely come up
here before, and I do apologise if this is visiting old ground.

I am a novice limited license holder in Australia and pretty soon I will
have access to the 10-15 and 80M bands. I would like to know what you
consider as being the best all round antenna for my purpose? I have plenty
of room to mount an 80M dipole antenna, although height is a problem. I can
go up no more than about 50 feet.

I also have a mast and rotator, so a triband yagi is also on the cards.

Just looking for decent ideas here guy's. I know the question is fairly
open ended, but I would like to consider all my options from those who have
all the best knowledge of what works and what doesn't. To wire or not to
wire? To beam or not to beam? To G5RV??????

I am running a TS-850, an MFJ 989C Tuner running 100W out of the box.

Thanks very much for your time and I really appreciate your response to my
questions.

Warmest regards

73 de VK2HXY
Troy

On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 22:25:42 +1100, "Troy - VK2HXY"
wrote:

Hi there ladies and gents. I have a question that has most likely come up
here before, and I do apologise if this is visiting old ground.

I am a novice limited license holder in Australia and pretty soon I will
have access to the 10-15 and 80M bands. I would like to know what you
consider as being the best all round antenna for my purpose? I have plenty
of room to mount an 80M dipole antenna, although height is a problem. I can
go up no more than about 50 feet.

I also have a mast and rotator, so a triband yagi is also on the cards.

Just looking for decent ideas here guy's. I know the question is fairly
open ended, but I would like to consider all my options from those who have
all the best knowledge of what works and what doesn't. To wire or not to
wire? To beam or not to beam? To G5RV??????

I am running a TS-850, an MFJ 989C Tuner running 100W out of the box.

Thanks very much for your time and I really appreciate your response to my
questions.

Warmest regards

73 de VK2HXY
Troy



Hi Troy,

As you said in your post you will get all kinds of answers. And a lot
will depend upon factors that you do not mention.. I.E. what's your
purpose, DX, RagChew Local or distance ??

The G5RV does a decent job on 80m but is not the best choice for 10
and 15m.. on those too bands the beam-- yagi or quad would be best if
you can get the up at least 25 feet. Dipole is a good choice on
80meters even thought 50 feet is not really high on that band. if you
looking for DX on 80 I would put in a vertical with good ground
system as well.

Just some suggestions,
73 Dave kc1di

Thanks for the reply Dave. Well my intended purpose is for DX, although
Ragchew is definitely a bonus. I have a 80M (inverted V) about 10 foot off
the ground that I am currently using for receive only and am getting great
receive results from VK6,5,4 and 3, all coming in when the band is open here
with 40 over 9 signal reports, not bad for such a noisy band. So if I can
get that up to 50 feet that should take care of 80 for the time being I
guess. I guess my questions were intended to get some discussion going for
people to offer up suggestions (for and against) for my intended band usage.
I have heard that many use the G5RV with a tuner with good results, although
there may be better bang for the buck with other wire type antennas, or
conversely, am I better running a vertical? You see my quandary?

Are there any better brands of antenna for 10-15-20M in a tri-band that I
should be looking for? Or rather the question should be, one's I should
steer clear of?

Thanks again for the advice, that's what the hobby is all about, sharing the
knowledge...

73

Troy
VK2HXY
Sydney, Australia




"KC1DI" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 22:25:42 +1100, "Troy - VK2HXY"
wrote:

Hi there ladies and gents. I have a question that has most likely come
up
here before, and I do apologise if this is visiting old ground.

I am a novice limited license holder in Australia and pretty soon I will
have access to the 10-15 and 80M bands. I would like to know what you
consider as being the best all round antenna for my purpose? I have
plenty
of room to mount an 80M dipole antenna, although height is a problem. I
can
go up no more than about 50 feet.

I also have a mast and rotator, so a triband yagi is also on the cards.

Just looking for decent ideas here guy's. I know the question is fairly
open ended, but I would like to consider all my options from those who
have
all the best knowledge of what works and what doesn't. To wire or not to
wire? To beam or not to beam? To G5RV??????

I am running a TS-850, an MFJ 989C Tuner running 100W out of the box.

Thanks very much for your time and I really appreciate your response to
my
questions.

Warmest regards

73 de VK2HXY
Troy



Hi Troy,

As you said in your post you will get all kinds of answers. And a lot
will depend upon factors that you do not mention.. I.E. what's your
purpose, DX, RagChew Local or distance ??

The G5RV does a decent job on 80m but is not the best choice for 10
and 15m.. on those too bands the beam-- yagi or quad would be best if
you can get the up at least 25 feet. Dipole is a good choice on
80meters even thought 50 feet is not really high on that band. if you
looking for DX on 80 I would put in a vertical with good ground
system as well.

Just some suggestions,
73 Dave kc1di

One man's opinion -

Put up a 268'+/- horizontal loop, 67'+/- per side, feed it with open
wire/ladder line through your tuner. Get it as high as you can.

Suspend the corners of the loop through pulleys so that you can move the
feed point along the circumference of the loop. Moving the feed point will
shift the lobes & nulls along the azimuth (i.e. rotate the pattern). This
will be a good 80 meter antenna for local work & a good DX antenna on 10, 12
& 15.

Troy,

You really want 2 antennas.

1. A dipole for 80 meters. 50 feet is not that bad; there are many that are
lower.

2. A rotatable antenna of some kind for 10/15. At this point, I don't know
of any that don't also work 20, but then, you might upgrade. If you want to
keep cost down, I would get a 2 element triband beam. These are light enough
to mount on a TV rotator.

Doing it this way you don't have to mess around with antenna tuners. The
money you save will pay for the tribander. I have a Hygain TH3MK4 at about
42 feet. This appears to be about optimum for 15 meters.

Tam/WB2TT
"Troy - VK2HXY" wrote in message
...
Hi there ladies and gents. I have a question that has most likely come up
here before, and I do apologise if this is visiting old ground.

I am a novice limited license holder in Australia and pretty soon I will
have access to the 10-15 and 80M bands. I would like to know what you
consider as being the best all round antenna for my purpose? I have plenty
of room to mount an 80M dipole antenna, although height is a problem. I
can
go up no more than about 50 feet.

I also have a mast and rotator, so a triband yagi is also on the cards.

Just looking for decent ideas here guy's. I know the question is fairly
open ended, but I would like to consider all my options from those who
have
all the best knowledge of what works and what doesn't. To wire or not to
wire? To beam or not to beam? To G5RV??????

I am running a TS-850, an MFJ 989C Tuner running 100W out of the box.

Thanks very much for your time and I really appreciate your response to my
questions.

Warmest regards

73 de VK2HXY
Troy

You can build a fan dipole for 1, 15, and 80..that would give you the bands you
are looking for..here's a link to one:
http://www.hamuniverse.com/multidipole.html

I just completed my 80 meter loop but can't comment on the performance as I
have to run the feedline through the wall before I can put her on the air.

Good luck...

Steve
kb8viv

You can build a fan dipole for 1, 15, and 80..

Thats supposed to be 10,15, and 80.

Steve
kb8viv

Bob Miller wrote:
If you simply feed your 80m dipole entirely with 450-ohm ladderline,
and run it through your 989c tuner, it should tune the higher bands,
as well, without any great feedline loss. Check your tuner manual for
feedline lengths to avoid.

Or vary the length of the feedline as shown on my web page and
enjoy all HF bands without the need for a conventional tuner.
--
73, Cecil, http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 23:24:50 +1100, "Troy - VK2HXY"
wrote:

Thanks for the reply Dave. Well my intended purpose is for DX, although
Ragchew is definitely a bonus. I have a 80M (inverted V) about 10 foot off
the ground that I am currently using for receive only and am getting great
receive results from VK6,5,4 and 3, all coming in when the band is open here
with 40 over 9 signal reports, not bad for such a noisy band. So if I can
get that up to 50 feet that should take care of 80 for the time being I
guess. I guess my questions were intended to get some discussion going for
people to offer up suggestions (for and against) for my intended band usage.
I have heard that many use the G5RV with a tuner with good results, although
there may be better bang for the buck with other wire type antennas, or
conversely, am I better running a vertical? You see my quandary?

If you simply feed your 80m dipole entirely with 450-ohm ladderline,
and run it through your 989c tuner, it should tune the higher bands,
as well, without any great feedline loss. Check your tuner manual for
feedline lengths to avoid.

You might see how well that works for you, and then if it's not the
best on the dx bands, go for the beam.

Bob
k5qwg


Are there any better brands of antenna for 10-15-20M in a tri-band that I
should be looking for? Or rather the question should be, one's I should
steer clear of?

Thanks again for the advice, that's what the hobby is all about, sharing the
knowledge...

73

Troy
VK2HXY
Sydney, Australia




"KC1DI" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 22:25:42 +1100, "Troy - VK2HXY"
wrote:

Hi there ladies and gents. I have a question that has most likely come
up
here before, and I do apologise if this is visiting old ground.

I am a novice limited license holder in Australia and pretty soon I will
have access to the 10-15 and 80M bands. I would like to know what you
consider as being the best all round antenna for my purpose? I have
plenty
of room to mount an 80M dipole antenna, although height is a problem. I
can
go up no more than about 50 feet.

I also have a mast and rotator, so a triband yagi is also on the cards.

Just looking for decent ideas here guy's. I know the question is fairly
open ended, but I would like to consider all my options from those who
have
all the best knowledge of what works and what doesn't. To wire or not to
wire? To beam or not to beam? To G5RV??????

I am running a TS-850, an MFJ 989C Tuner running 100W out of the box.

Thanks very much for your time and I really appreciate your response to
my
questions.

Warmest regards

73 de VK2HXY
Troy



Hi Troy,

As you said in your post you will get all kinds of answers. And a lot
will depend upon factors that you do not mention.. I.E. what's your
purpose, DX, RagChew Local or distance ??

The G5RV does a decent job on 80m but is not the best choice for 10
and 15m.. on those too bands the beam-- yagi or quad would be best if
you can get the up at least 25 feet. Dipole is a good choice on
80meters even thought 50 feet is not really high on that band. if you
looking for DX on 80 I would put in a vertical with good ground
system as well.

Just some suggestions,
73 Dave kc1di

Yeah, that 1 megahertz dipole might be a little large for the average yard


"Desmoface" wrote in message
...
You can build a fan dipole for 1, 15, and 80..

Thats supposed to be 10,15, and 80.

Steve
kb8viv