When I tell other Ham's what kind of antenna I have in my attic for HF and how it is configured, everyone says the same thing..... "That won't work!" Well I have proved that it does. However, I know there are some things I can do to improve the design. While cleaning my office/Ham station today, I ran across my LDG 4:1 balun that I had connected to a long wire. I got to thinking about the group on Ebay that sells Slinky Dipoles and how they have baluns on their design. So with my LDG Z100 auto tuner, why not try it with the slinky antenna I have in the attic? It was really easy to put up with a piece of wire connected to each side of the slinky antenna. After I did, I noticed less noise on the bands and receiving more stations, or at least I was able to hear more stations with the reduction in noise. I even noticed I could hear WWV on 15 MHz which I never noticed being able to do before. The biggest difference I noticed was the reception on 40 meters. At 2:30 in the afternoon when I usually do not hear anything on the band, I heard several stations on. Mostly all in Texas including a mobile station in Amarillo. Could be band conditions, but for my set up here it was unusual. May not be a big change in the performance, but every little bit counts I think.
I used a slinky dipole on 20m when I visited Lake Tahoe. I hung it on the balcony of the condo and had a great QSO with a vet in Texas.
ReplyDeleteWhatever works (radiates).
73s
Jeff House, AE6JK
ae6jk@yahoo.com
I have a double slinky stretched out to 34 feet total in the top space in my attic, above the collar beams (ties). I use two heavy spring-loaded cords: one to support it, and another at each end to adjust the length. I've found it radiates better when stretched out rather than "tuned" to a specific freq, even though the SWR might be higher. I originally had a rope-and-pulley system like something off Captain Nemo's famous submarine, but one length is easier. Also, this has a fairly strong end radiation because it's basically an air-inductor when used to transmit. It's not an outdoor dipole, but I QSO from Maryland to Georgia and North Dakota with it. John, W3CPO
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