Antenna manufacturing & design
Antennas for limited spaces
Cablehelp.com
Antenna manufacturing & design
Antennas for limited spaces
Home of the rugged 160 Meter "sloper" antenna!
Want on 160M but cramped for antenna
space? We have your solution:
If you have 40-50' height and about 50' horizontal space
we have a great antenna to get you on the air with no tuner usually
needed!
Thanks to all who came by and saw us in Memphis! We had a great time. "Always a great hamfest & it supports a great cause : Le Bonheur Hospital for children..."
Next UP:: Corinth, MS April 27, 9 am to 4 pm. Drop by and see us.
Check out this video from Memphis:
With the seasons changing get ready for those pesky storms that lead us into summer. Now is the time to make sure your antennas are ready for the weather, particularly your HF wires. Check for excessive sag and loose hardware. Watch out for tree limbs that may be getting in places they should not. Pay particular attention to where your open-wire or ladder line attaches to the antenna. Constant flexing in the wind will certainly cause a failure after a length of time. For coax fed systems, unscrew the connector and make sure there is no moisture or corrosion inside. Green corrosion is a sure sign of an impending failure. A little spray and some weatherproofing can make these connections last much longer. Be aware though if water has already started to migrate down the coax shield it's time to replace it or at least cut off enough to get back to good coax and re-connector. Most of us use PL259 connectors and they are fine if well waterproofed but "N" connectors are superior especially on VHF/UHF, just a little more trouble to install. Not bad though after you have done a couple of them. I use crimp-style "N" connectors now but I still solder the center pin. Just can't help myself. Better repair now than when your antennas are on the ground due to storms. One last comment, keep a written record of your VSWR readings on all your antennas so you will have a reference in the future to know whether you have something happening that needs attention. A slow degradation of VSWR readings over a period of time can be a sure sign of moisture ingress.
The finest shortened 160M antenna available at any price!
Click here for more info
We also offer an 80 Meter version.
Our world famous 160M sloper is now in 59 countries,
But Proudly Made in America for 17 years!
***We also build custom antennas for VHF and UHF.. contact us for a quote on your special antenna... problem antenna situations are our specialty...***
We have plans to introduce a shortened, loaded dipole for 160M this summer. It's been in Beta testing for more than a year now with great results. It is more narrowbanded than our sloper but with a decent tuner still covers the entire band. The tip-to-tip length is about 120 feet. Not bad for a 160M wire!
Antenna 101: Over time we get many requests for advice and other questions about antennas. We are always happy to help. One question keeps coming up though. "I have always been told that when operating an antenna on a band other than the one it was designed for, I need to keep the power down...why?" Keep in mind that many antennas are designed for a single-band (or a limited number of bands). These antennas are resonant in those band(s). If operated on another band it is likely NOT resonant. Take a dipole for instance. At the feedpoint (at resonance) there is very little voltage but a high current flow is present. This allows a lot of power to be fed into the dipole without damage. The high-voltage points in this antenna are at the ends of the radiator wires where the circuit is open. On a band where it is not resonant high-swr values will occur and very high voltages will develop both in the transmission line and the antenna. If these voltages find even the slightest path to arc, such as a dirty insulator or a carbon trail where lightning has arced before, catastrophic results can happen. This arcing can damage your radio/amplifier. Keep in mind that using a good wide-range tuner allows us to operate antennas in a lot of situations where we really shouldn't. However the tuner does not do anything for the antenna. It just makes the radio/amplifier happy by giving it a 50 ohm load to operate into. The radio might be "happy" but the antenna could be on the verge of failure at the same time. It will be just as mis-matched as before with respect to the signal driving it. You can burn up most any antenna or BALUN (even 1500 watt baluns) by driving them hard with an amp and forcing them to operate into loads not resonant on the operating frequency.
© 2002 thru
2024 Stan Jones
KC5UYF
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page last updated 04/17/2024
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