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Dipole that sees no ground.

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Cruiseomatic

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Jul 28, 2011
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228
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Houston, TX
Using two firestik antennas as a dipole on a mirror "L" mount. SWR is 4.0 whether I have a counterpoise or not. Tried it with and without a balun. Makes no difference. Went 6 to 8 turns and no change. Both antennas are 5/8 wave. Only difference is one is 3' (Hot) and the other is 4' (cold). Tuned both all the way they could go and nothing. Closest I can get is low to mid 26mHz. Analyzer isn't very specific on freq. and my ohms are about 30 with a single 18ft. of rg8x. Its acting like it has nothing to reflect off of. I do have the arrl ant. handbook but its from 1977 and talks mostly about using tuners which I know I can get this to work without one. Tried looking online but can't really find anything. I did find something about using 21 ft. of coax to wind a balun but it covers way more than I need it to and coax isn't cheap.
 

prcguy

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Jun 30, 2006
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So Cal - Richardson, TX - Tewksbury, MA
Try a 50pf (or 47pf) capacitor across the feedpoint, I'll bet the dipole impedance is well above 50ohms and the capacitor will make it appear lower.
prcguy



Using two firestik antennas as a dipole on a mirror "L" mount. SWR is 4.0 whether I have a counterpoise or not. Tried it with and without a balun. Makes no difference. Went 6 to 8 turns and no change. Both antennas are 5/8 wave. Only difference is one is 3' (Hot) and the other is 4' (cold). Tuned both all the way they could go and nothing. Closest I can get is low to mid 26mHz. Analyzer isn't very specific on freq. and my ohms are about 30 with a single 18ft. of rg8x. Its acting like it has nothing to reflect off of. I do have the arrl ant. handbook but its from 1977 and talks mostly about using tuners which I know I can get this to work without one. Tried looking online but can't really find anything. I did find something about using 21 ft. of coax to wind a balun but it covers way more than I need it to and coax isn't cheap.
 

Cruiseomatic

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
228
Location
Houston, TX
Just rechecked again and I have 25 ohms with the 18ft coax. Past the hundreds on R and X with a 6 ft. piece. My R=25 X=0 with the 18 at 4.1 SWR. If I move the coax closer to anouther coax I get 5.0 But doesn't change if I hold it. I'm thinking I have a CMC but it should of changed when I held it.
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ncm_0178-jpg.14266
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Everything is insulated from everything. The V antenna makes no difference either. I removed it and stayed. If I'm lucky, I'll see it in the 3's but rare. The black rod with yellow tips is 1/2" PVC and the vertical pole is an aluminum stage light stand. The bottom mount stud with the "N" connector is just temp until I can get a bolt that fits. I also need the mount flipped for height clearance.
 
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WA0CBW

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Dec 8, 2011
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Shawnee Kansas (Kansas City)
Make sure that both legs of the dipole are insulated from the metal mast or mounting. Also make sure both legs of the dipole are the same length. Also make sure the coax leaves the dipole at a 90 degree angle for as far as you can.
 
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