Had another antenna party with Jeff and Brandi got to exercise and play ball till her tongue was dragging,then she played some more.
The DOUBLET is the name given,years ago,to a non-resonant DIPOLE or INVERTED "V" antenna that ,because it is non-resonant,can be used with an antenna tuner on all or most Ham bands. The DOUBLET can be fed with ladder-line or coax and this test antenna was fed RF with coax to a 4 to 1 balun and each arm of the antenna is 51 feet long....though as I had a roll of 50 feet of 14 gauge speaker wire....we made a DOUBLET that was 50 feet per element and used a speaker tripod to raise the center feedpoint to about 15 feet on a painters pole that was handy for support and managed to fit the antenna in my small yard in the shape of an "L" and the ends of each 50 foot long 'leg' were tied to my 4 foot tall cyclone fence.
Not the best location or position for an antenna as it was barely taller than my house.I set about connecting the 50 foot long length of coax to my IC737 radio with it's 3 to one ratio capable tuner. The bands really came alive as there was a 'contest' going on (rare is the weekend that there isn't a contest) and people were hammering each other for a contact number as if it proves some ability in a station and operator that is more subject to the whims of propagation than operator skill or station capability...beyond operator stamina.
Worked stations on 80 meters (NVIS will work during the day on 80 meters) ,40 meters ,20 meters and tuned easily all bands 160 through 12 meters ...but had troubles with 10 meters as the radio's tuner with only 3 too 1 ratio tuning while the LDG tried later ran 10 and 6 meters ,along with all the rest of the frequencies. The low antenna ,placed is less that optimum height and orientation showed how EASY it is to be heard on the active Ham bands with simple equipment.
The 50 foot DOUBLET was easy to make with it's 50 feet of wire on each leg fed by the 4 to 1 balun and worked well with even the limited capability of the internal tuner,I was surprised,and am already thinking of a way to incorporate one into my 60 X 60 back yard. The Ham on the run might find it not too tough to install with a water bottle at each end ,tossed over a tree limb but don't forget to support your coax at least each 10 feet so it does not get damaged or stretched beyond design limits as your coax is very important and must be protected.
The fifty or 51 foot DOUBLET is a winner ,especially as an all band base antenna though it takes little time to install for a weekend stop and will be well worth the added capability of the balanced,non-resonate ,omni-directional antenna.PLEASE test one and post results here as antennas of the past bring your radio hobby back to life.
