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Date: Sun, 07 Oct 2001 15:37:53 -0500
From: "George, W5YR" <w5yr at att.net>
To: k5di at zianet.com
Cc: Low Power Amateur Radio Discussion <qrp-l at Lehigh.EDU>
Subject: [108250] Re: Antenna, optimum
Message-ID: <3BC0BD21.5F5F7C44 at att.net>
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Karl, as my old Grandaddy used to say "You don't want much, do you?"   <:}

I use five antenna systems here:

1. 20-meter Extended Double Zepp (88 ft) running NW/SE at 38 ft for 80 - 10

2. 20-meter EDZ at 38 ft running NE/SW for 80-10

3. 40-meter full-wave horizontal loop at 20-35 ft high

4. Butternut HF9V vertical ground-mounted over 60 radials

5. Parallel full-size dipoles for 80, 40, 30 and 20 meters mounted in the
attic and fed with one RG-213 coax

The most important part of this station setup is the heavy-duty coax switch
used to choose which antenna is in use.

Over many Fox Hunts on 20 and 40, I have found that at various times any or
none of these antennas succeeded in getting a pelt! Most of the time, the
fur does fly, but even with all the various azimuthal and elevation angles
available among this set of skywires, there have been times that none of
them could do the job on either band.

So, my experience has been that there is no single antenna that can do the
trick. My approach has been to use a variety of wire antennas with
differing properties and to be able to select among them quickly to
determine which one does the best job at any particular time. There have
been several times with ESP Foxii that I have transmitted on one antenna
and received on another.

Good luck for the coming Hunts, and count on me to make as many Cub Hunts
as I can.

72/73, George W5YR - the Yellow Rose of Texas QRP-L 1373 NETXQRP 6       
Fairview, TX 30 mi NE of Dallas in Collin county EM13qe SOC 262   
Amateur Radio W5YR, in the 56th year and it just keeps getting better!
Icom IC-756PRO #02121  Kachina #91900556  IC-765 #02437

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