Saturday, July 1, 2023

80 becomes 60

 I had 2 80m inv V antennas ,  the 80/40/20 Fan  Dipole  part way up the hill and the 80m inverted V at the top of the hill.  Initial WSPR testing I found that the antenna on the hill was better to the East by 1 db  and the antenna part way up favored the west by 2-3.     The antenna at the top of the hill has 300' more IFL then the one behind the house.  Its mostly LDF4 so its not lossy and looks good when swept.    I decided that there wasn't much to be gained by the 2 antennas and kept the Fan part way up the hill on 80 being that it had a significant advantage to the W SW and besides it would have been tricky to tune with the 40 and 20m elements.    

 Cut the Inv V on the top of the hill down to 2X44' segments creating  60m inv V.    Quick check of the VSWR was 1.3 : 1 ... good enough.   Did 1 brief SSB QSO and was pleased with the results.    

 Next up I need to mod the 450D  for 60m operation ...looks simple cutting a diode or a jumper!   Just another item on the Ham to do list!