Hi Erik,

I'll keep this short as the thread will likely be closed soon (or should).  What I have up now is Field Day style, simple antennas (the inverted L for example, an 80M dipole, R7) shot into the trees so I could get on, pending the install of 'the real station', hi.  The water pipe (300+' in two directions, deep enough to never freeze) is the L counterpoise, for now.  It isn't ideal but it works and isn't meant for forever.

I will be installing a lightning protection and counterpoise system with lots of copper, ground rods etc, which will come to box (for feed line, rotor control) at the tower end of the conduit to the shack (AND tie into the house grounding per code).  The box will have hardline from the house, coax for the tower, matching network for the Inverted L and the surge and lightning devices on each feed (static or lightning stays OUTside).  I'll also put an AC power outlet at the base, for occasional power tool use and a wifi web cam (may as well, I have to power the electric winch motor).

I DX, I don't contest, so I don't need SO2R (other than the second rx for DX chasing on splits).  Should that someday change, I'm blessed with the space for a tower farm or I'll put the EDZ up (kind of a favorite, I worked a LOT of DX on that dipole).  With the KAT500 (or KPA1500), rapid QSY isn't an issue on the EDZ.

No slam was inferred or taken on the Cushcraft; only that the compromises add up to make it work, but not as well as a tuned dipole.

I'm not sure that an end fed wire antenna will work well on multiple bands without a fair amount of effort (remote tuner at least, absolutely a CMC to back that up).  The voltages at radical SWR (non-resonant afterall) can be high.  Isolating the radiation to the wire is a major issue, that antenna tends to want the feedline (coax commonly) as the counterpoise, bringing RF into the shack (and why I went with the inverted L which partly warms the worms).

73,
Rick NHC


On 2/24/2018 10:53 PM, Erik Basilier wrote:
Your antenna farm is a separate subject, as is mine, and in this thread I will just 
comment briefly on those subjects. I got interested in SO2R, but don't have space 
for two towers/beams. You may not be thinking about SO2R, but if you are, and if you 
too can't put up a second tower/beam, then you might want to think twice about using 
SteppIR. With a beam that can work multiple bands without retuning, I use a 
multiplexer that allows two transmitters to use the same beam as if I had two 
separate ones. (Minus the capability to point them in different directions!). If an 
end-fed wire antenna works well without tuner on multiple bands, it can also be used 
with a multiplexer to perform instantly on another band, without retuning. Not so 
with a simple center-fed dipole (but a fan or trapped dipole would be ok). My other 
comment is about your verticals fed against a pipe in the ground. When I was using 
inverted L's for 160 and 80, I first tried them against a single, 4" wide 
copper strap going part way around the house and tied to a few ground rods here and 
there. Then I tried it against two zigging wires used as elevated radials. This 
worked much much better. Like others have said so often and so well: If you are 
going to bury radials, it will take many of them.

73,
Erik K7TV




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