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| Beams - again! and a dipole | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Thursday, 14. January 2010, 22:05 (4,942 Views) | |
| Deleted User | Thursday, 14. January 2010, 22:05 Post #1 |
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Many years ago when I was a lad and CB was still illegal and you used ALL the channels you could get a cheap and cheerful centre fed aluminium dipole. Later versions came with a drilled base loaded mobile antenna and was one of the first legal base station antennas after that fateful day in November 81. However, I digress, It's the aluminium dipole I'm interested in. Are they still available? The other qustion is this, Oggy said in another posting, aluminium is not a cheap material but is the Sirio 3 element beam worth the £80 asking price? |
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| Offplanet | Thursday, 14. January 2010, 22:16 Post #2 |
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Yes Bob - Knights do them for £20. I did really well with mine - just used vertical and worked all over Europe with it last year. Cheers Gary |
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The CT eXtreme DX Team [imgw=50]http://b1.ifrm.com/2510/101/0/p5000422/mountain.png[/imgw] CTX Founder Member and CTX Team Admin Callsigns - 26-CTX-104, 26-CT-104, 163-CTX-104, 163-CT-104 CTX on Facebook ![]() CTX on Twitter ![]() UKCBTV on Youtube | |
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| Deleted User | Thursday, 14. January 2010, 22:27 Post #3 |
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Thanks Gary you may have made my night. I assume it comes with some sort of mounting hardware. I hate websites that just have a description and not a picture of the product :angry: Two of those, a boom, a bit of tweaking. You can see were this is going............................
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| VoG | Thursday, 14. January 2010, 22:31 Post #4 |
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The dipole does work remarkably well, but their Achilles' heel is (as stated on Knights Website) " The only disadvantage is that they are weak and will break in the wind if used in an exposed area." - I seem to remember Gary saying that he'd had to strengthen his with some support between the "9 up" and the "9 down" As for the Beam, I wish I could answer you. I'd love a beam but to be practical, you also need then to think asbout how you're going to point it in the right direction - if it is for your Clee Hill expeditions, then aiming it will be a simple task of turning the mast I suppose, but for any fixed fitting it really needs a rotator and that's significant extra cost, plus the fiddle-factor for fitting. Also, a beam presents a fairly large wind area, so they too are susceptible to wind and weather. Don't for get the size of the damn things too, that Sirio 3 ele is about ten feet by twenty feet (harder to fit on the back seat than a Sirio 4000 'basket') ![]() Why not have a word with Quantocks Tony as he uses a cubical quad on his expediations and doesn't seem to find it trouble to assemble/disassemble for a day of DXing? |
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| Offplanet | Thursday, 14. January 2010, 22:50 Post #5 |
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Have a look at eBay item 370249366567 - a mini beam and the seller has a decent bunch of other aerials too. The dipole came with a bracket from memory - but it just bolts on to the TV pole stuff you can get in B+Q. I strengthened mine with a bit of fibreglass rod. I was thinking about co-phasing a vertical and horizontal one - just to see what happened really! Cheers Gary |
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The CT eXtreme DX Team [imgw=50]http://b1.ifrm.com/2510/101/0/p5000422/mountain.png[/imgw] CTX Founder Member and CTX Team Admin Callsigns - 26-CTX-104, 26-CT-104, 163-CTX-104, 163-CT-104 CTX on Facebook ![]() CTX on Twitter ![]() UKCBTV on Youtube | |
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| Deleted User | Thursday, 14. January 2010, 22:55 Post #6 |
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Steve your absolutely right. I've been pulling my hair out, which is something that gets more difficult every passing day, thinking about a antenna upgrade for summer hill topping. A beam would be nice but, as you say, they are BIG. The Sigma 4 idea is over for the same reason. The centre fed dipoles for £20 seem a fair deal but not well made. If I were to buy two and then spend time "beefing" them up plus the other bits of hardware to make a 2 element beam that may or may not work that well I will not be far off the £80 for the well made Sirio 3 element. :headband: What to do If somebody did a beam with loaded elements at a fair price...........................dream on. |
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| Deleted User | Friday, 15. January 2010, 00:56 Post #7 |
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I'd build a home made 2 element cubical quad...the booms made of alloy but short,4 fibreglass spreaders,any wire you can buy,borrow or steal.A Quad will out perform a Yagi.Stick it on a pole in a plate with a tube welded to it what your car wheel sits on.Then just rotate it by hand.I'm going to build one myself.Cubex are a top American Quad builder who do Amateur ones.......but they do a couple of 11 meter ones too...they have a web site..Google it.....good luck!!!
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| Offplanet | Friday, 15. January 2010, 01:07 Post #8 |
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This beam is loaded Bob http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie..._fvi%3D1&_rdc=1 Cheers Gary |
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The CT eXtreme DX Team [imgw=50]http://b1.ifrm.com/2510/101/0/p5000422/mountain.png[/imgw] CTX Founder Member and CTX Team Admin Callsigns - 26-CTX-104, 26-CT-104, 163-CTX-104, 163-CT-104 CTX on Facebook ![]() CTX on Twitter ![]() UKCBTV on Youtube | |
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| Deleted User | Friday, 15. January 2010, 17:16 Post #9 |
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That's a interesting bit of kit! Never seen one like that before. Had a quick look at there other antennas. Prices seem realistic. Thanks Gary for that. |
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| 2EC837 | Sunday, 17. January 2010, 08:28 Post #10 |
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You might consider a homebrew rotatable dipole for portable operations.Use two 1/4 wave whips and a mount like this:![]() I've used one on 10/11 and 6 meters and pleased with the results. |
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| Deleted User | Sunday, 17. January 2010, 09:15 Post #11 |
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Very interesting. When you say good results like "how good? What sort of whips were you using for 11mtrs, base loaded or different? Need more info. Like to have a go. |
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| Mark in Essex | Sunday, 17. January 2010, 09:22 Post #12 |
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Two 9ft Tank whips would be perfect me thinks
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[][img][/img][/url] https://www.youtube.com/user/26TANGOMIKE037/videos Nembutol numbs it all But I prefer alcohol | |
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| 2EC837 | Sunday, 17. January 2010, 16:21 Post #13 |
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By good I mean that it will work as good as a dipole works.It will not work as good a multi-element quad,qaugi or yagi.For portable use and hill topping it is quick and easy to assemble and transport.A received signal can change polarizations during a transmission and the ability to switch between vertical and horizontal (we call flatside here in Div 2) polarization and extend a contact or put more QSO's the log.When hilltopping I would use a vertical with the dipole below it and switch between them as needed.73 2EC837
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| Offplanet | Sunday, 17. January 2010, 23:42 Post #14 |
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I've got all the bits to make one of those up and will be giving it a try - thanks for the info. Cheers Gary |
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The CT eXtreme DX Team [imgw=50]http://b1.ifrm.com/2510/101/0/p5000422/mountain.png[/imgw] CTX Founder Member and CTX Team Admin Callsigns - 26-CTX-104, 26-CT-104, 163-CTX-104, 163-CT-104 CTX on Facebook ![]() CTX on Twitter ![]() UKCBTV on Youtube | |
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