From owner-qrp-l@Lehigh.EDU Sun Mar 1 18:33:02 1998 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 SAA09687 for ; Sun, 1 Mar 1998 18:33:01 -0500 (EST) Received: from Lehigh.EDU ([127.0.0.1]) by fidoii.cc.Lehigh.EDU with SMTP id <12539-42764>; Sun, 1 Mar 1998 18:31:55 -0500 Received: from nss4.cc.Lehigh.EDU ([128.180.1.13]) by fidoii.cc.Lehigh.EDU with ESMTP id <12555-36878>; Sun, 1 Mar 1998 18:29:15 -0500 Received: from m15.boston.juno.com (m15.boston.juno.com [205.231.100.192]) by nss4.cc.Lehigh.EDU (8.8.8/8.8.5) with ESMTP id SAA60828 for ; Sun, 1 Mar 1998 18:28:56 -0500 Received: (from nq2rp@juno.com) by m15.boston.juno.com (queuemail) id S[H05702; Sun, 01 Mar 1998 18:26:16 EST Message-Id: <19980301.182534.8143.0.nq2rp@juno.com> Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 18:26:16 EST Reply-To: nq2rp@juno.com Sender: owner-qrp-l@Lehigh.EDU Precedence: bulk From: nq2rp@juno.com (B/BAMS Club Station) To: "Low Power Amateur Radio Discussion" Subject: Re: W3EDP vs. Dipole X-Mailer: Juno 1.38 X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-1,5-6,12-13,20-21,27-28,35-36,40-41,51-52,55-64 X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 beta -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN Status: RO Here we go, and I can't say that the results surprise me. I put up the W3EDP in a "typical" portable installation, one end at a window, and the other end run up into a tree about 100 feet from the house. The high end was about 25 feet up, and the 17 foot counterpoise ran along the side of the house, and about 60 degrees off the wire line. The main antanna is a pair of dipoles, inverted vees (sort of) with the apex at 40 feet, the 40 meter ends up about 30 feet, and the 80 meter ends up about 15 feet. The dipoles and their end ropes are the guys for the "A-Frame" mast. The center of this is about 120 feet from the house, and both dipoles are fed with the same run of RG-8X. This is my primary station antenna. I ended up running the comparison over a 4 day period, and added 160 and 20 Meters into the pool, receive only on 160 M and compared to my 1-wave OCF wire on 20 Meters. The 80/40 dipole heard far better on 160 than the W3EDP, 2 to 3 "S-Units" in all cases. On 20 Meters, the W3EDP was better on paths off the primary axix on the OCF wire, and equal on the on-axix paths, never varying more than an "S-Unit" at any time. I would call them tied on 20. 40 Meters, now this was interesting! On closer in paths the W3EDP won hands down, 1 to 5 "S-Units" out to 150 miles. From 150 to 500 miles, they were almost neck&neck, never more than an "S-Unit" off. Beyond 500 miles, the W3EDP was consistanly an "S-Unit" down. A decent performing antenna for paths under 500 miles, and acceptable on longer paths, including the Single-Letter beacons. 75/80 Meters showed the dipole to be a clear winner, but not by the margin I expected. On ground wave paths it was 1/2 to 1 "S-Unit", this out to about 5 miles, but everything else was an S-unit down including the Eu DX around 3750 KHz and the German SW station up at 3995 KHz (Deutche Wells???) Still getting a 439 vs. a 449 is still a QSO for the log. If I didn't have the room for the dipole, I would g for the W3EDP, and have plenty of QSO's and fun. Although I have the 100 watts on tap, I never felt the need to crank the drive up. All the QSO's were on QRP, and the 80 Meter groundwave tests used the oscillator in the Autek RF-1 for a source, with reports returned on 2 Meter FM from my "local" ops. In a nutshell, for portable operations or a limited space installation ( for a "Small Garden" as our fellow hams in the UK put it), I would go with the W3EDP in a heartbeat. If you have the room/time/inclination, go for the full-sized dipole, with the feedpoint up at least 35 feet, more if possible. If you lack supports, look at any older Handbook, ARRL Antenna book or whatever, and knock together an "A-Frame" mast and use the 80/40 dipoles for the top guys. You can eliminate the side set of guys in the middle by bracing the mast against the house/barn/shed/garage. Mine cost less than $60 with all-new materials, including the paint and sealer for the ground board. I don't see why one couldn't put an auto-tuner at the feedpoint, say in the attic or loft, counterpoise dangling to ground and tune this beauty on all the bands, 160M included. Anyone want to give it a try? 72/73, Keith, WB2VUO at the keys at B/BAMS NQ2RP - QRP-L # 1294, Byron/Bergen AMateurS Club Station Listen for our 10 Mtr Milliwatting Beacon: 125 mW @ 28.287 MHz "Our night light runs more power than our Rig!!!" _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]