Rhombic antenna?

[2RT307]

I had a nice QSO with Roger, W1VDE today. He was in Oregon, I was in my mobile in Oklahoma. HUGE signal from this guy, and he was running a Yaesu FT1000 MKV. He told me he had 900 feet of wire in a rhombic antenna at 75 feet up. I'd never really heard of this, so I Googled it. Interesting antenna, and he commented that fade was not nearly as bad with this design as it is with others. Have any of you guys used one?

73,
Brett

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Not many people use Rhombic antennas as they take up a lot of room and are fixed directional. I don;t remember the call sign but I remember seeing a QSL card from eastern Australia that said "Covering the world with diamonds" on it. The operator had several rhombics aiming in different directions.The longer the leg of a rhombic the higher the gain.

 

[2RT307]

Yeah, I was thinking that when he said 900 feet of wire! He told me he was at 4K elevation on a mountain side. I listened to him for almost an hour before I keyed up and made contact, and he was 9+ the whole time. He didn't say if he was running an amp, and his QRZ page doesn't show what he runs, either. Said he had been a ham for 67 years!

73,
Brett

 

[w9cll]

VOA ran Rhombic's if I remember correctly and they had a switching section that allowed them to direct the signal. Great antenna needs lots of room.

 

[W5LZ]

Rhombic would be nice if you've got the room. I think it was W6AN a bunch of years ago that had several and was famous for them. Just wish I could get anything up 75 feet...
- 'Doc

 

[Beetle]

Missed it by one letter, Doc. W6AM.

 

[Road Squawker]

... He told me he had 900 feet of wire in a rhombic antenna at 75 feet up...

actually 900 feet long @ 75 up is really on the smaller size. Rhombic Antennas, V-beam, and Inverted V

but, this was on 10 meters, not say 40.

I have worked him before and his signal is not just a result of a Rhombic antenna,............ he runs a LOT of wattage (and has a lot of background noise too).

look at the chart W8JI made up, comparing a stacked 3 ele yagi and a Rhombic.

in terms of "gain per acre", a Rhombic is a poor choice.

Rhombics do have certain advantages. bandwidth, power handling, ease of construction, ect.

BTW, look at the gain figures for W8JI screen antenna<More audio>

 

[2RT307]

actually 900 feet long @ 75 up is really on the smaller size. Rhombic Antennas, V-beam, and Inverted V

but, this was on 10 meters, not say 40.

I have worked him before and his signal is not just a result of a Rhombic antenna,............ he runs a LOT of wattage (and has a lot of background noise too).

look at the chart W8JI made up, comparing a stacked 3 ele yagi and a Rhombic.

in terms of "gain per acre", a Rhombic is a poor choice.

Rhombics do have certain advantages. bandwidth, power handling, ease of construction, ect.

BTW, look at the gain figures for W8JI screen antenna<More audio>

Cool stuff, thanks for the link. And again I get confused on inverted V's. I had stated in a post a while back that Inverted V's were vertically polarized, and this guys post says that too:
The inverted V antenna or vertically polarized half-rhombic is half of a standard rhombic turned on its side. Theoretically the terminated inverted V antenna uses the ground below the antenna to make up the "missing half" of the rhombic.

After being "called out", I had researched the Inverted V some more, and found that it was horizontally polarized. Now I'm really scratching my head. Is it the angle of the V that changes the polarization? In that a 45 or 30 degree inverted V is vertical, and a 90 degree one is horizontal?

Getting off the Rhombic topic, sorry... but hey, it's my thread! :laugh:

73,
Brett

 

[vkrules]

Just spoke with W1VDE on his rhombic. What a signal 40 over 9 in Brisbane . He was running 200 w and with very little compression. Man he must have some ground to play with .He has 6 rhombics and changed over mid Qso to show me. His 40 over 9 disappeared completely, very impressive.