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You got some good answers and, well...

A lot depends on what you want to work.

If it's DX on 160 and 80 the antenna needs to be quite high to keep up with the Jonses. If you want to be regional and work your buddies a few states over 60 feet in the center is optimum for 80 meters. 120' and your low angle will skip right over their heads. Plenty of folks on 80 use dipoles at 30' year after year. Same folks are not DX hounds.

Remember that maximum radiation takes place at the current maximum points of the antenna. Put up 130 feet center fed and the center will be doing most of the work on 80. Same antenna on 40 radiates most from halfway out on both wires.

The trick with a multiband antenna is to use good balanced line. Twinlead and windowline both suck when wet. Use real open wire line with plastic or ceramic spreaders. Feed with a good quality tuner designed for a wide range balanced load.

Double Bazooka is a cool name for a unnecessarily heavy antenna which loses power deliberately to exhibit low SWR over a small increase in bandwidth over it's dipole cousin.

<blockquote data-quote="HiDef" data-source="post: 144966" data-attributes="member: 7734">You got some good answers and, well...A lot depends on what you want to work.If it&#039;s DX on 160 and 80 the antenna needs to be quite high to keep up with the Jonses. If you want to be regional and work your buddies a few states over 60 feet in the center is optimum for 80 meters. 120&#039; and your low angle will skip right over their heads. Plenty of folks on 80 use dipoles at 30&#039; year after year. Same folks are not DX hounds. Remember that maximum radiation takes place at the current maximum points of the antenna. Put up 130 feet center fed and the center will be doing most of the work on 80. Same antenna on 40 radiates most from halfway out on both wires. The trick with a multiband antenna is to use good balanced line. Twinlead and windowline both suck when wet. Use real open wire line with plastic or ceramic spreaders. Feed with a good quality tuner designed for a wide range balanced load. Double Bazooka is a cool name for a unnecessarily heavy antenna which loses power deliberately to exhibit low SWR over a small increase in bandwidth over it&#039;s dipole cousin.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="HiDef, post: 144966, member: 7734"] You got some good answers and, well... A lot depends on what you want to work. If it's DX on 160 and 80 the antenna needs to be quite high to keep up with the Jonses. If you want to be regional and work your buddies a few states over 60 feet in the center is optimum for 80 meters. 120' and your low angle will skip right over their heads. Plenty of folks on 80 use dipoles at 30' year after year. Same folks are not DX hounds. Remember that maximum radiation takes place at the current maximum points of the antenna. Put up 130 feet center fed and the center will be doing most of the work on 80. Same antenna on 40 radiates most from halfway out on both wires. The trick with a multiband antenna is to use good balanced line. Twinlead and windowline both suck when wet. Use real open wire line with plastic or ceramic spreaders. Feed with a good quality tuner designed for a wide range balanced load. Double Bazooka is a cool name for a unnecessarily heavy antenna which loses power deliberately to exhibit low SWR over a small increase in bandwidth over it's dipole cousin. [/QUOTE]

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