I personally love the idea of a 43 foot vertical. I use the Dx Engineering Thunderbolt for 60 meters, it is 1.5 inches at the top. I collapse it down to 33ft6in. Gives a fully resonant antenna on 40. Add a 17.5 foot wire with outrigger (pvc supported on vert by hose clamp) and now you have 20meters. Next run a wire with another set of out riggers up to the top and out 33 feet and you have 80 meters. Next wind 132 turns 18ga wire on 1.5in pvc and add to the 80 wire end then add about 15 feet of wire and you have 160.
What you have when you get done is: 160 meter inverted L with a bit of compromise. but still workable on a city lot. 80 meter inverted L no compromise with full size. 40 meter 1/4 wave full sized vertical 20 meter 1/4 wave full sized vertical 15 meter fully loads on 40 10 loads on 80 It works well for me. I live on a city lot and it plays great. I use a receiving array for 80 and 160 with phasing and preamps. NCC1 Dx engineering system. Most 42 foot /43 foot verticals require 150 feet of coax to balance out the loss/swr to hook you in to thinking that you have a great antenna. But most any antenna is better than no antenna. And, if all you have is a 43 foot vertical, use it. Enjoy it. There is a qrp op on CWOPS that all he has is a 43 ft vertical. He does great with it but also he can walk out his back door and pee in the ocean, so that is really not a fair comparison due to the salt water and the magic it gives. Vy 73, Morgan NJ8M ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
