lookin for a beam but dont have room for a long boom. i like the price on this one too (110). any experiences/opinions on this antenna and brand? i will be running it w/ my barefoot washington.
-
You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.
MACO M-103
- Thread starter BIONIC_TEXAN88
- Start date
Are you going vertical or horizontal? If you are going horizontal, why not add one more element and optimize the beam to the new dimensions using the Maco M104C:
http://www.signalengineering.com/ultimate/4_element_yagi.html
If you want to go vertical, there are a lot of other things to take into consideration. Tuning will NOT be the same! Most people think you can just flip it to vertical, but that is not true.
http://www.signalengineering.com/ultimate/4_element_yagi.html
If you want to go vertical, there are a lot of other things to take into consideration. Tuning will NOT be the same! Most people think you can just flip it to vertical, but that is not true.
DXman
Yes, that's 3100 degrees F. Nine yrs of hard work.
BIONIC_TEXAN88
You should try and get it up at least 10' above the rooof if possible, that is if the roof is "composition", if it is metal, then that's not going to work very good for you.
Horizontal yagi's don't like them metal roof's very well.
---------------
DXman
You should try and get it up at least 10' above the rooof if possible, that is if the roof is "composition", if it is metal, then that's not going to work very good for you.
Horizontal yagi's don't like them metal roof's very well.
---------------
DXman
BIONIC_TEXAN88 said:
A horizontal antenna will be useless for local communications. It will work, but you will have 20db of isolation from the stations running vertical. Also, the distance this antenna is above ground will change your take off angle. If it is too low, you will not be a happy camper.
Take heed to the comments about the metal roofs! They are right!
My personal opinion, setting up this antenna the way you have described is a total waste of your time and money.
i dont have a metal roof so that is good. i have some extra pipe, enough to go up to 60' so i will probably do that. i have to beef up the base i guess to support all the new weight. i live in a rent house so i was thinking about getting a 55 gallon drum from work and filling it up w/ concrete and using it as a base for the mast. i also have a bracket that is attached to the house about 10' up. so, if i have enough height should i go horizontal or vertical for best dx'ing? i probably wont be using the beam local unless i have to.
BIONIC_TEXAN88 said:
Horizontal my good man. If you had a beam that went back and forth between horizontal and vertical, like the Moonraker IV, you would see that some times there is an advantage of one over another.
BUT!
If you only have the one option, always go horizontal for DX.
Don't waste your time with the 55 gallon drum. Sink a foot or two into the ground to stop the bottom of the mast from moving and bracket it to the side of the house. Use a rafter beam coming from inside the house to secure the mast to! Most people think the facia board is secured good enough. This is NOT true! Only a couple of nails hold those in place! I would even go as far as to support the rafter you tie off to, INSIDE the roof of the house.
If you go 60', make sure you use guy wires to support the pole.
Beam antennna
Bionic Texan, I was in the same situation a few years ago and the solution that I came up with was to mount a vertical 5/8 and a horizontal 3 element yagi on the same mast. Running two feedlines down to the radio with a coaxial swich so I can change from vertical to horizontal with the flick of a switch. As Mater chief says horizontal is best for skip and this is true 95% of the time but occasionally the reverse happens. Sometimes in skip conditions polarity gets reversed and a signal transmitted horizontally gets recieved better vertically so it is nice to be able to change over without having to go outside.
Murray
Bionic Texan, I was in the same situation a few years ago and the solution that I came up with was to mount a vertical 5/8 and a horizontal 3 element yagi on the same mast. Running two feedlines down to the radio with a coaxial swich so I can change from vertical to horizontal with the flick of a switch. As Mater chief says horizontal is best for skip and this is true 95% of the time but occasionally the reverse happens. Sometimes in skip conditions polarity gets reversed and a signal transmitted horizontally gets recieved better vertically so it is nice to be able to change over without having to go outside.
Murray
thanks for all the help. i will definately go w/ a m103 or a m-104. i took my starduster down today to check it out and the center antenna part had water inside it.(there 2 parts coming together) i sealed it back up and replaced all screws w/ bigger short sheet metal screws and its a lot stouter now. thinkin about gettin rid of the starduster and goin w/ an imax so i will be able to put a beam and a omni directional on the same mast. i am afraid w/ the starduster's 3 ground plane rods that it might be too close to the beam maybe giving me high swr's.