From kc8aon@juno.com Thu Jan 6 19:40:54 2000 Received: from nss4.CC.Lehigh.EDU ([128.180.39.1]:12497 "EHLO nss4.cc.lehigh.edu") by astro.CC.Lehigh.EDU with ESMTP id <75579-2615>; Thu, 6 Jan 2000 19:40:45 -0500 Received: from m5.boston.juno.com (m5.boston.juno.com [205.231.100.197]) by nss4.cc.lehigh.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id TAA107928 for ; Thu, 6 Jan 2000 19:40:43 -0500 From: kc8aon@juno.com Received: "CXvYeqYl/5erFvJPsbL6y/X3sO6CG3VLk1jBNVKUqigTvZGNADyENQ==" Received: (from kc8aon@juno.com) by m5.boston.juno.com (queuemail) id EVPLN3B9; Thu, 06 Jan 2000 19:39:20 EST To: qrp-l@Lehigh.EDU Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2000 19:36:21 EST Subject: W3EDP Multiband Antenna ? Message-ID: <20000106.193816.4399.6.kc8aon@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 1.49 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-1,6-7,9,11,13-14,16,18- X-Orcpt: rfc822;qrp-l@listserv.cc.lehigh.edu CQ Gang, Has anyone had experience with the "W3EDP" multiband antenna ? It appears to be nothing more than an 84' random wire tuned by an "LC" network, with a 17' counterpoise. Is it nothing more than a random wire ? Or am I missing something here ? I'll try to illustrate the thing here - boy I hope this turns out right. "LC" {coil & variable capacitor} coax in =========//////////----------------------------------------------- I I 84' wire - vert or horiz. I--) (--I "250pf cap" I coil is B&W type 3047 I miniductor stock I I 17' counterpoise wire I I It appears that the coax shield connects to the rear of the coil and the 17' counterpoise, and the center conductor is connected to a spot further up the coil for best loading, and the coil adjusted for resonance. From what I can figure out, the coax center conductor uses an aligator clip to find the best "tap" on the coil experimentally. The thing is (I'm told) supposed to work 10 thru 80 meters, and I think it looks like it should work fairly decent since the matching is done at the antenna itself and eliminates the feedline loss, but wouldn't it work better with tuned 1/4 wavelength counterpoise wires, one for each band ? The 17' wire looks like it would work on 20 meters, but I just don't know about 80. Anyone have any input ? {{{{{{{{{{{{ 73 }}}}}}}}}}}} ==== RICK MCKEE ==== ++++++ KC8AON ++++++ WILLOW WOOD, OHIO [[[[ LONG LIVE CW ]]]] From clofgren@BENSON.MCKENNA.EDU Thu Jan 6 20:26:54 2000 Received: from nss4.CC.Lehigh.EDU ([128.180.39.1]:1495 "EHLO nss4.cc.lehigh.edu") by astro.CC.Lehigh.EDU with ESMTP id <75716-2619>; Thu, 6 Jan 2000 20:26:50 -0500 Received: from benson.mckenna.edu (Benson.McKenna.Edu [134.173.104.54]) by nss4.cc.lehigh.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA508108 for ; Thu, 6 Jan 2000 20:26:49 -0500 Received: from BENSON.MCKENNA.EDU by BENSON.MCKENNA.EDU (PMDF V5.2-29 #39543) id <01JKE4WLSVMO0002IC@BENSON.MCKENNA.EDU> for qrp-l@Lehigh.EDU; Thu, 6 Jan 2000 17:26:47 PDT Date: Thu, 06 Jan 2000 17:26:47 -0700 (PDT) From: Charlie Lofgren Subject: Re: W3EDP Multiband Antenna ? In-reply-to: <20000106.193816.4399.6.kc8aon@juno.com> To: kc8aon@juno.com Cc: CLOFGREN@BENSON.MCKENNA.EDU, Low Power Amateur Radio Discussion Message-id: MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-Orcpt: rfc822;qrp-l@Lehigh.EDU X-Envid: 01JKE4WLSVMQ0002IC@BENSON.MCKENNA.EDU On Thu, 6 Jan 2000 kc8aon@juno.com wrote: > CQ Gang, > > Has anyone had experience with the "W3EDP" multiband antenna ? It > appears to be nothing more than an 84' random wire tuned by an "LC" > network, with a 17' counterpoise. Is it nothing more than a random wire > ? Or am I missing something here ? [snip] Rick, On 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters, the W3EDP is closely related to an end-fed zepp. There's a section on it in my article on "The FFD--the Field Friendly Doublet" in the June 1998 issue of the Adventure Radio Society's online Sojourner magazine, available in the archives at http://www.natworld.com/ars 72, Charlie Lofgren, w6jjz clofgren@mckenna.edu From wb2vuo@juno.com Thu Jan 6 20:36:35 2000 Received: from nss4.CC.Lehigh.EDU ([128.180.39.1]:34008 "EHLO nss4.cc.lehigh.edu") by astro.CC.Lehigh.EDU with ESMTP id <75878-2618>; Thu, 6 Jan 2000 20:36:05 -0500 Received: from m7.boston.juno.com (m7.boston.juno.com [205.231.100.196]) by nss4.cc.lehigh.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA343176 for ; Thu, 6 Jan 2000 20:36:04 -0500 From: wb2vuo@juno.com Received: "4GqoiJDTFQewD/ZkoAL0yGq3tNMwXhOGDrruPMo2MXHRYMD/YWQbLg==" Received: (from wb2vuo@juno.com) by m7.boston.juno.com (queuemail) id EVPPWBMZ; Thu, 06 Jan 2000 20:35:43 EST To: kc8aon@juno.com, qrp-l@lehigh.edu Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2000 20:34:22 -0500 Subject: Re: W3EDP Multiband Antenna ? Message-ID: <20000106.203429.-440527.0.wb2vuo@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 4.0.5 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-1,3-4,7-8,10-11,13-14,19-22,26-30 X-Juno-Att: 0 X-Juno-RefParts: 0 X-Orcpt: rfc822;qrp-l@listserv.cc.lehigh.edu Hi Rick. Keith here portable in Binghamton, NY 2 years ago I put up a W3EDP to compare it with my dipoles. The results varied as below: 80M - The W3EDP is about 6 - 8 dB lower in performance than a dipole, this verified with receive comparisons using a calibrated step attenuator and the regular station (a Ten Tec Argosy at that time) 40M - The W3EDP and the dipole were close to identical, wiht the maximum variation being -2 dB on medium (600 - 1000 mile) paths. 30 M - I saw no difference between the dipole and the W3EDP, but tuning was touchy. Some end-fire directivity was noticed. 20M - The W3EDP showed end-fire directivity and the dipole was broadside. I could not really evaluate the two as they were not "pointed" the same way, but I could work anyone I could hear on either antenna, but sometimes could only hear stations on one of the antennas and not the other. 15 - 10 Meters - I did not run any test on these bands In my tests, I decided that the W3EDP was a decent antenna for 40M and up, useable on 80M and with the low profile, a good "stealth" antenna. Was I limited to one antenna and also needed low visibility, the W3EDP would be high on my list. 72/73, Keith, WB2VUO, 100% QRP from the Depths of the Great Bergen Swamp VP & FD'00 Chairman, Brockport Amateur Radio Klub My night light runs more power than my Rig!!! From cgreene@loa.com Thu Jan 6 22:11:45 2000 Received: from nss4.CC.Lehigh.EDU ([128.180.39.1]:34787 "EHLO nss4.cc.lehigh.edu") by astro.CC.Lehigh.EDU with ESMTP id <76887-2620>; Thu, 6 Jan 2000 22:11:23 -0500 Received: from loa.com (qmailr@deity.loa.com [199.171.167.13]) by nss4.cc.lehigh.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id WAA448892 for ; Thu, 6 Jan 2000 22:11:22 -0500 Received: (qmail 26786 invoked from network); 7 Jan 2000 03:08:59 -0000 Received: from pool-206-97-109-21.loa.com (HELO oemcomputer) (206.97.109.21) by deity.loa.com with SMTP; 7 Jan 2000 03:08:59 -0000 Message-Id: <4.2.2.20000106210950.00aaed60@mail.loa.com> X-Sender: cgreene@mail.loa.com X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.2.2 Date: Thu, 06 Jan 2000 22:01:51 -0500 To: kc8aon@juno.com, "Low Power Amateur Radio Discussion" From: Charles Greene Subject: Re: W3EDP Multiband Antenna ? In-Reply-To: <20000106.193816.4399.6.kc8aon@juno.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed X-Orcpt: rfc822;qrp-l@listserv.cc.lehigh.edu At 07:36 PM 1/6/00 -0500, kc8aon@juno.com wrote: Hi, I'm using one now. There is a good write up on page 33 of Practical Wire Antennas by John Heys, G3BDQ. I got the book from ARRL. Although it's possible that your arrangement might work, it's not the same as described, or that I am using. Mine is an 85' wire that is an inverted L. One end goes into a window near my rig. It goes up the side of the house about 25' then to a tree at 35'. The 17' counterpoise goes along the house about 3' above the ground in the direction of the antenna. Inside the window is a MFJ 900 antenna tuner. The antenna was connected to the tuner balanced output. It tunes well on all bands from 80 up. It is also possible that the K2 built-in antenna tuner would have tuned it with a home made 4:1 balun at the antenna. I'll wait and try it when the antenna tuner is released. I tried making measurements with an Autec antenna analyzer, but it read "H" on some bands and about 4000 ohms on some others. It was non-resonate on all bands and the impedance was neither too high nor too low (Goldilocks syndrome), so the antenna tuner was able to handle it. 15 meters was the most difficult to tune. I compared it to my Hustler 6BTV vertical. The vertical was better on 80 - 20 by about 1/2 an S unit and picked up less noise. The wire had directivity on 17 through 10 and picked up more signal than the vertical in some directions and less in others than the vertical. I figured it would be a good portable antenna. Just toss one end over a tree with a lead sinker and lead the other end back to the tuner in a sloper manner and lay the counterpoise on the ground. All bands, no feed line to speak of, easy to carry and erect, no ground, and probably has performance as good as any portable antenna. I only used it at 12 watts with my K2. A home made W2DU balun near the K2 kept RF off the K2. 72/73 Chas, W1CG.