From owner-qrp-l@Lehigh.EDU Thu Feb 18 20:55:51 1999 Received: from fidoii.CC.lehigh.EDU (fidoii.CC.lehigh.EDU [128.180.1.4]) by oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id UAA02185 for ; Thu, 18 Feb 1999 20:55:44 -0500 (EST) Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:4997 "HELO Lehigh.EDU" ident: "IDENT-NOT-QUERIED") by fidoii.cc.Lehigh.EDU with SMTP id <54634-65346>; Thu, 18 Feb 1999 20:40:25 -0500 Received: from nss4.CC.Lehigh.EDU ([128.180.1.13]:3917 "EHLO nss4.cc.Lehigh.EDU" ident: "IDENT-NOT-QUERIED") by fidoii.cc.Lehigh.EDU with ESMTP id <53463-32582>; Thu, 18 Feb 1999 20:32:19 -0500 Received: from pelican.talon.net (root@pelican.talon.net [198.69.84.131]) by nss4.cc.Lehigh.EDU (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id UAA136098 for ; Thu, 18 Feb 1999 20:32:18 -0500 Received: from wb3aal (tcwl144.talon.net [198.69.84.58]) by pelican.talon.net (8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id UAA28926 for ; Thu, 18 Feb 1999 20:32:17 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <01b701be5ba7$d174a060$3a5445c6@wb3aal> Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 20:33:13 -0500 Reply-To: wb3aal@talon.net Sender: owner-qrp-l@Lehigh.EDU Precedence: bulk From: "Ron Polityka" To: "Low Power Amateur Radio Discussion" Subject: Wire Beams (Long) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-To: "QRP-L" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3155.0 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3155.0 X-Orcpt: rfc822;qrp-l@fidoii.CC.Lehigh.EDU X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 beta -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN Status: RO Well everyone would like to see the replies that I received on the question I posted about the wire beams. So here are all the replies I received in order. I would like to thank everyone that replied to my e-mail. ================================================ Done Vee Beams if that interests you. If you are thinking parasitic beams using wire, no experience here. Ed N5EM ================================================ Not sure my brain is worth picking but I've known about the wire beam for years. Never built one thought as I ended up with the big stuff. Wire beams are no different than Yagi's in terms of design consideration. In fact I'd use the software for it (Yagimax) to design the spacing etc. The only thing different is the size of elements. It will be different because of that-ie. #xx wire Vs tubing. Other than that no different. It effects the velocity factor. Yagimax I believe is available free on the web somewhere can't remember that but there was an article in June/July QST maybe two years ago for the site. In addition I think there have been a few articles in QST re that subject. Ie cheap beam for xxx band. As I recall it used wood spreaders with wire for the elements. Been interested in low band recently and just purchased "antennas and techniques for low band DX" ON4UN ARRL -really a good book. Also J. Carr has a good book on antennas "Practical Antenna Handbook" by Tab I think. Its older but really well written. May have something in there on wire beams. Of course there's the ARRL stuff on antennas- Mike WB9IOG Le Claire, Ia ======================================================= Ron, Many years ago when I was working at the andean zone of my country, I made some wire beams for commercial bands. The design is very simple, as the boom, I used a 1/4" nylon rope, same as used for fishing. Cut two wires for a wave dipole antenna as the driven element. Cut two wires less in 5 percent for the director element and 5 percent longer for the reflector element. Tie up the reflector to one end of the nylon rope and proceed to measure 15% of the wavelength from the end to tie up a 1:1 balun, and from this point, measure 10% of the wavelength to have the point to tie up the director element. You must use 2 masts to fasten each end of the rope, consider the direction you want to communicate. To put up the antenna, I use a pulley in each mast (like a flag). The final step, is to tie up the end of each element wire with 1/16" nylon cord After you finish the job, you can see 3 element array inverted "V" dipoles. Has more gain than a dipole and you will enjoy with it. An the most important, is not expensive. 73 de Augusto, OA4CVT ======================================================= Hi Ron, all of my antenna farm is wire beams and large horizontal loops, and vertical polarized long vee beams. The antenna farm runs from 160 meters thru 2 meters (long vee beam). Although a tower is a nice asset to a ham station, wire antennas and low elevation masts are not only fun but the cost factor is so low that there is plenty of opportunity for experimentation. Mostly the quad or triangle loop is my favorite, however, most of the antennas are large, but could be reduced to fit into a city lot. If I could help you or others, it would be my pleasure, however, any drawings would have to be sent via fax or snail mail for the present time. 73 & happy wire antenna building. Walter Dufrain, AG5P Wright City, Missouri ======================================================= OK, it may or may not be what you're looking for...it is only for a 5-element 15M yagi, called the "Yard Yagi" and is in "CQ" magazine, April, 1997, page 32 the height above the ground is only 18 feet 5 inches and it seems to have a 3-5 "S" unit gain over a dipole, or so the article says. Cheerio es 73 Justin McAllister, kd5ako Weatherford High School ARC Pres QRP-L 1849 ARS 491 NorCal#...still waiting ======================================================= I would like to take the beam hiking. de WB3AAL Ah, hiking. That's a bit different. I will give you the definitive wire beam antenna for that environment - a long wire. Yep, believe it or not, a single long wire, correctly oriented in the direction you wish to work (not run in that direction, however) will do it. By "long wire", I'm referring to a wire that is at least a full wavelength at the operating frequency, preferably longer. I like 5 to 10 wavelengths, but you do have to carry and manage this, of course. Get a basic antenna handbook and read up on "long wire" or traveling wave antennas. You get a figure 8 with lobes in four directions from the wire. Two of these, fed at an apex and laid out at an angle form a Vee beam which is great but would be more difficult to erect on a hiking trip. A single wire, however, is a breeze to erect - you only need two supports that lie in the correct directions apart. The trick to a long wire is that the actual length in wavelengths determines the angle off the wire that the lobes fall. The longer the wire, the closer to the direction of the wire the lobe is. The antenna manuals will show you this relationship. So, if you know the length of the wire in wavelengths for all the frequencies you might want to use it, and you have a compass, you can easily erect the wire to point a lobe in the preferred direction (and you get 3 more too boot). A long wire, for example 300 ft. or so, on 20 meters and up can generate lobes with gains of 8 db or better. Not bad for an antenna that takes less energy to put up than a dipole with a feedline. You feed it with the same kind of tuner you might use for a half wave antenna. Probably could even use a Rainbow if you gave it some thought. This is a very cursory pass at a fairly complex subject. It really deserves a nice article in one of the Quarterlies. Ed, N5EM ======================================================= I developed a "cheap and easy" 20 meter mini-yagi wire beam. Construction details are on my web page at: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~hansongr/ANTENNAS.HTML Let me know if you have any questions. During the FYBO QRP contest I worked 46 stations in 23 states and got lots of 579 to 599 reports with it. Mine is only up about 33 feet, but seems to work great. Gary KJ5VW ======================================================= I believe all editions of Bill Orr's 'Beam Antenna Handbook' have dimensions for driven and parasitic wire beams. I have used his lengths for home-brew beams for 20 and 15 meters in various places in the world and they do work. Cheers, Mark ~ K9AM QRP-L #443 35 miles NW of Chicago ======================================================== That is all for now folks! 72 / 73 & Good DX Ron de WB3AAL wb3aal@talon.net vvv Eastern Pennsylvania QRP Club Web Page vvv http://www.kpsnet.com/wb3aal/Start_Page.htm Eastern Pennsylvania QRP#1 Eastern Pennsylvania QRP Club Call---> N3EPA ARCI QRP # 5318 G-QRP # 3031 KL7 QRP # 309 NJ-QRP # 179