I have a 10m to 160m wire antenna but looking for a second antenna either a vertical or dipole. Opinions on each?
https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/mfj-1775
https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/mfj-1796
I can't comment on the MFJ-1796, but I do have experience with the MFJ-1775.
A friend of mine, who is not very mechanically/electrically inclined, purchased the MFJ-1775 and I agreed to help him set it up. I have put together lots of antennas over the years, but the MFJ-1775 did turn out to be a challenge. Before you do any building, you need to separate everything and positively identify all the parts. Then, read the instructions, twice. Otherwise you will be swapping parts later on.
I had an additional problem, in that, the friend wanted to use it portable! We had to make it so that it could be stored disassembled and then deployed when needed. But that part is another story.
The MFJ-1775 is basically a loaded fan dipole. The 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter sections have loading coils and and radials, on each end. The section with the loading coils comes pre-assembled, but you have to add the radials. It's very much like building a porcupine, so you need lots of space, vertically and horizontally. Just work slowly and carefully, or you could poke an eye out. In the end, it is pretty light so doesn't cause a problem when putting it on a mast.
Functionally, it does work, but the lower bands, 40 and 20, are not very efficient. The antenna is just too short for it to work very well on those bands. A initial test, with a MFJ antenna analyzer, showed that it was very close on all bands and only needed a little tuning. But being a loaded dipole on most bands, the bandwidths are not very wide. I would recommend using a tuner, if you intend to use all of 40 and 20 meters. I haven't gotten any real reports from my friend yet, but it appeared to work fairly well when I was testing it. But, while it is rotatable, don't expect to null out that kilowatt station that has their yagi pointed your way.
Someone also mentioned the 5BTV. I bought one used at a ham fest over 10 years ago and have been using it ever since. I have had it installed in a variety of locations, with the current one being the best. One of my limitations is that, I have horses and tractors. So I need to keep everything off the ground. The horses would destroy a ground mounted antenna in minutes. My 5BTV is mounted at the top of a 18 foot section of 2" iron pipe. I use four angled (45 degree) radials for each band (40, 20, 15, and 10 Meters). I don't use radials for 80 meters because, the 80 Meter Resonator "exploded" during a lightening storm. A nice feature of the 5BTV, if you like to tinker, is that extra bands, like 12 and 17 meters, can be added. I think the 6BTV comes with 30 or 60 meters.
But the rest of the antenna still works. I find that it is a little noisier than my multi-band trap/fan dipole, but it still works great. Like any shortened antenna, the bandwidth on the lower frequency bands is small, but a good tuner can take care of that for you.
Martin - K7MEM
