Impossible!

[VE7NOT]

There are severalnets on sunday night here. On meets on 10m. Another 11m. I have an 11m vertical which can easily tune both band BUT 10m is hozontally polorized for most out there. So usually im weak. I decided to put and end to this by checking around my scrap stuff.

My two fiberglass whips that came off my car were quickly joined together and laid horzontal on the patio. SWR was good on 10m. Great.

Today I have a few minute and decided to see what else this 'sagging horizontal whip' could tune.

20m ok... http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif 40m ok http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif 80m ok http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif 17, 30m, 12m, 6m, 15m... in fact the only band I couldn't tune this thing on was 160m.

I checked the meter against others. No doubt. Two 96" whip together with 4 feet of wire off the braid tune all bands... Funny.

Never hurts to try.

(oh yeah I will test it tommorow on 80m for a contact)

[PE1RDW]

Did you have it wiredup as a dipole or as a T antenna? your description is a bit vauge about that.

[KM5FL]

Two 96" whips on 80 meters makes a pretty good dummy load.. Remember, swr is NOT an indication of how well an antenna will perform... My Cantenna has a 1.2:1 swr on 80 meters and nobody can hear me. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

KM5FL

[wb7dmx]

it's funny how many people think that because they can tune it with a antenna tuner to a 1:1.5 match that it will throw a signal off great and make all kinds of contacts.
heck, I can do that with a 100 watt light bulb too, and even make some contacts with it.

[VE1IDX]

Quote[/b] (wb7dmx @ Nov. 15 2006,06:45)]it's funny how many people think that because they can tune it with a antenna tuner to a 1:1.5 match that it will throw a signal off great and make all kinds of contacts.
heck, I can do that with a 100 watt light bulb too, and even make some contacts with it.
I agree. All it really proves is that the tuner used has a great impedance matching range.I once loaded up an indoor four foot long helical antenna on 160m.I did not make any contacts with it despite the perfect SWR however.That was truely a test of the flash over point of the tuner's capacitors.

[VE7NOT]

Quote[/b] (wb7dmx @ Nov. 15 2006,02:45)]it's funny how many people think that because they can tune it with a antenna tuner to a 1:1.5 match that it will throw a signal off great and make all kinds of contacts.
heck, I can do that with a 100 watt light bulb too, and even make some contacts with it.
I wasn't using a tuner thats what makes this amazing

[VE7NOT]

Quote[/b] (PE1RDW @ Nov. 14 2006,23:20)]Did you have it wiredup as a dipole or as a T antenna? your description is a bit vauge about that.
It was one element

[KA4DPO]

Bet the field strength on that baby is awsome. Better no try it on 5 meters, it might have way too much gain.

[w4hwd]

Claims of low SWR sell antennas, because over the years most hams have bought into the idea that low SWR is all that matters. Well, SWR in probably one of the most insignificant components of the overall antenna picture. Efficiency is number one, so when the guy who replied earlier said even though you get a "match" on 80, 40, etc, so does a dummy load - you're antenna is probably about as efficient as a dummy load when it comes to radiating a useful signal. Someone once said something to the effect of "I can work the world on a crap antenna"...their point was "so what?" - an efficient antenna makes radioin' more fun!

Can't fault you for experimenting, though.

[W4HAY]

Two 96" whips is a lot more metal in the air than most mobile stations use, and I work lots of 100-Watt CW mobiles on 80 and 20.

Stick 'em up in the air base-to-base as a dipole, feed 'em with some ladderline, and tie 'em to the parallel-line output of your tuner. You'll be surprised!

Edited to add: No ladderline? Try some 300-Ohm twinlead. It's a bit more lossy, but what the heck? We're 'sperimenting! Right?

[KA4DPO]

You can substitute coat hangers also.