Antenna height for beam?

[okie]

I have never had a beam and am thinking of buying a PDL-2 or Moonraker 4.

Is the Moonraker really that much better than the PDL? My objective it to talk 60 miles,station to station.

Attached is a picture of my tower.It is 40' I think or a tad less.Is this tall enough for a beam to work well? There are no obstructions such as neighbors,trees,buildings etc.

 

[Robb]

Welcome to the forum - okie!

Sounds like ideal conditions for a beam to me. The antenna choices you've mentioned are no longer made new; but you can still find them around. I would get a Maco 4 element horizontal beam and mount your vertical on top of it. Depends if you are an AM or SSB talker. A quad antenna can be used for both - like the antennas you've mentioned.

Nice tower.
Great location.
Height is perfect.

 

[TonyV225]

4 element will have more gain butits up to you what you want to put up. One other thing to think about is those rediculous plastic hubs on the PDL ll parts for those antennas are not as easy to obtain as the Maco beams and such. That tower is fine.

 

[okie]

Welcome to the forum - okie!

Sounds like ideal conditions for a beam to me. The antenna choices you've mentioned are no longer made new; but you can still find them around. I would get a Maco 4 element horizontal beam and mount your vertical on top of it. Depends if you are an AM or SSB talker. A quad antenna can be used for both - like the antennas you've mentioned.

Nice tower.
Great location.
Height is perfect.

Thanks for the welcome. The PDL and 4 are both quite old but in good condition. It seems the PDL-II might work with a regular tv rotor so I was leaning that way but will take you folks advice.

 

[okie]

4 element will have more gain butits up to you what you want to put up. One other thing to think about is those rediculous plastic hubs on the PDL ll parts for those antennas are not as easy to obtain as the Maco beams and such. That tower is fine.

I have thought about Maco because of the parts. Thanks

 

[office888]

Be sure to pay attention to the wind loading on that tower too.

It look like a Rohn AX-series, like I bought.

If that's the case, it can only hold about ~4 sq ft of wind load when it comes to antennas.

 

[W5LZ]

What's the 'best' height for a beam, or any antenna as far as that goes? As high as practical. Your tower would be about as typical as it gets, so should work just dandy. Would any more height be any better? Sure, but keeping that 'practical' thing in mind, how much trouble would it be, and what's the cost? I think I'd quit worrying about height when you get to something around a 1/4 mile or so... maybe.
- 'Doc

 

[wavrider]

What's the 'best' height for a beam, or any antenna as far as that goes? As high as practical. Your tower would be about as typical as it gets, so should work just dandy. Would any more height be any better? Sure, but keeping that 'practical' thing in mind, how much trouble would it be, and what's the cost? I think I'd quit worrying about height when you get to something around a 1/4 mile or so... maybe.
- 'Doc

Doc you ain't right, of course you ain't wrong either, 1/4 mile in the air, take a lot of guy wire to guy that tower

That 40 foot tower will do fine for a smal yagi, height is ok and should get you close to that 60 mile mark, of course height is might on HF so do not expect a fantastic change going from a vertical ground plane to a yagi but you will see an improvement in transmit and recieve given the gain of the yagi.

As far as PDLII versus Moonraker 4? Given your tower and weight restrictions, I would lean to the pdl II, the moonroaker 4 is a better antenna, but not by much given the quad radiator and gain of the PDLII, either one will work fine but pay attention to that wind load thing as mentioned earlier.

 

[unit_399]

OKIE -

The tower you have is perfect for 11 meters. The PDL is a better choice than the Moonraker because of the wind loading thing, and is better than the Maco because you have both vertical and horizontal polarization with the PDL.

- 399

 

[hotrod]

Welcome to the forum - okie!

Sounds like ideal conditions for a beam to me. The antenna choices you've mentioned are no longer made new; but you can still find them around. I would get a Maco 4 element horizontal beam and mount your vertical on top of it. Depends if you are an AM or SSB talker. A quad antenna can be used for both - like the antennas you've mentioned.

Nice tower.
Great location.
Height is perfect.

i agree with rob get a maco 3 or 4 element put on flatside then
mount verticle above it. get the best of both worlds.also by the looks
of all the empty space around you try raising your current antenna
so the bottom is around 60-70 ft.like others stated height is might

 

[AudioShockwav]

I used to run a PDL-II on a 30 foot free standing tower, and it was a very good set up. Light weight, used a small rotor to turn it and dual polarity all in a small package.
Even at 30 feet it worked very well.....it replaced a 3 el that i was using on the flat side, and it worked just as well.....with the added benefit of being able to switch from vert to horz with the flip of a switch.
I still wonder why no one picked that design up and continued to build the PDL-II, it was a great antenna.

73
Jeff

 

[mackmobile43]

I have never had a beam and am thinking of buying a PDL-2 or Moonraker 4.

Is the Moonraker really that much better than the PDL? My objective it to talk 60 miles,station to station.

Attached is a picture of my tower.It is 40' I think or a tad less.Is this tall enough for a beam to work well? There are no obstructions such as neighbors,trees,buildings etc.

I assume by your handle "OKIE" that you're in Oklahoma and that you're no stranger to the winds out there so let me assure you that if you put a moonraker 4 on that tower without guy cables you'll find your antenna on the ground or at least half way there as I'm sure that tower will snap about there.

One set of cables at the very top should support it but does nothing for the twist you're going to encounter so that being said I would not go any larger that a 3 or 4 element mounted horizontally.

 

[okie]

Yes Oklahoma,and I am on top of a bald hill so we get that wind. I am going to get a little better tower and guy it out.


I was talking to a gentleman today and he said I need a tower no taller than 40' for a beam as the first wavelength is at 36' I guess that makes sense.

 

[Robb]

So long as it has six guys (3 halfway up and again near the top), the base is poured-in concrete, a four element or PDL-II beam on top, then I would go with it.

 

[mackmobile43]

Yes Oklahoma,and I am on top of a bald hill so we get that wind. I am going to get a little better tower and guy it out.


I was talking to a gentleman today and he said I need a tower no taller than 40' for a beam as the first wavelength is at 36' I guess that makes sense.

That would be correct but higher means seeing further over the horizon and shooting to another station 60 miles away means get it higher but I've been heard 50 miles away and my ground plane is 24' to the feed point a that was at 120 watts on ssb mode.