I spent the morning replacing one Leg of my 80 Meter Dipole Antenna, that I use for ALL my HF Comms. We had a bit of a Wind Storm come thru Sunday Night, and the Dipole just wasn't loading up right, Monday Morning, for the Alaska Pacific Preparedness Net, on 14292.0 Khz, (20 Meters) and when i went out to look found that the 16Ga. THNN Wire I used, 40 Years ago, to build this antenna had parted, about a foot from the Center Balun, on the North End.... My Oldest Daughter and I put it up, on the First day we arrived, to take the WinterMan's Job, when the prior WinterMan died of a Heart Attack. The southern Leg was replaced about two years ago with 5 Strand Phosphor/Bronze Antenna Wire, when it parted, but I didn't have enough to do the whole Antenna, at that time. So, I went down to the Electrical Shop and found some 10Ga. Stranded Copper Wire, and figure It will out live me, if the previous Wire is any indication. Took about 2 hours to do the complete Job, and now it loads Normally on all bands, again... Back in the Comms Business....
And inquiring minds want to know, what are you using for a feed line? (Starting to think about a single band 80M dipole to go up in the spring.)
Antenna Insulators and Nylon Ropes, thru pullys.... on a 60Ft Tower on the North End, and a 60Ft Tree on the South End... Feedline is RG-58AU, about 40 Ft, long, from the Balun, and then to 35Ft of Belden 9913 Coax, that runs inside the Cabin...
Have all the 550 I can possibly use. How to send a signal to the dipole is the open question. This will be suspended only on the ends, so hanging a balun in the middle is not the best plan ---
depends on how one terminates the Wire to the Balun... On mine I use a Hygain Black 1:1 Balun and I bring the Legs in and make a Loop around the Body of the Balun, and then take the Wire End and make six wraps, around the incoming Wire, and the thread the free end back thru the loop, and finally terminate the end to the Balun FeedPoint.... I then use Black Tape to wrap the six wraps, of wire, to keep those secure... This provides plenty of Strain Relief for the Wire Legs, and at HF Frequencies the Loops have little effect, Electrically, on the Antenna Preformance... I do the same with the RG-58 Coax, by making a loop of it, vertically, around the Balun, and the a small loop on the bottom, and then plug the PL259 into the Balun, and i use Black Tape. to secure the Loops of the Coax to the feedline, heading down to the ground.. Again this provides the Strain Relief, for the Coax Feedline so it is NOT just hanging on the PL259... I have used this approuch when building HF Dipole Antennas all over Alaska, for the last 50 Years, with many of these antennas still being used in Marine Coast Stations...
I'm curious: if you had to do it over, would you use open-wire or coax? LMR400, or 9913 all the way? Have you thought about adding an amp? William Warren
Nah, It has worked well, and redoing it with 9913 doesn't get any appreciable difference in Line Losses at HF Frequencies, and I do NOT have the Power to run an AMP when the Genset is OFF, and we are on Inverter/Battery Power, so the RG-58 AU is just fine with the 100 Watt Power Level... I added a TS-480HX to the cabin, and even at 200 Watts that it puts out, the RG-58AU is still just fine.... I use 9913 for everything above 50Mhz... Clear up to 5Ghz It is just fine for that... There is a 500Ft Spool on the Front Porch, should I need to make a New Run...
