I echo all the comments on the W6NL Moxon. I have built two from scratch and
they are both in operation at my station 8P5A.
All cutting was done on a table saw and all element drilling was done with a
cheap Home Depot drill guide. I had a friend with a drill press drill the
brackets.
Could not be happier with the antenna. I had a Discoverer 7-3 before and spent
more time maintaining it that on all the other antennas combined. I don't
know that I would recommend this antenna over the Cushcraft. I had an old
402_CD which worked well, but had limited bandwidth and some reliability issues
of its own.
One thing to consider is installation of a Moxon. On a free standing or
crankup tower it is no different than any other antenna. On a guyed tower
the odd geometry can be challenge if you try to twist it through the guy wires
or assemble at the top of the tower. Tramming or a crane works better if that
is an option. Even with an experienced tower person, we had to drop a guy at
each level to get it to the top.
Happy to answer any questions off line
73, Tom W2SC
-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Tony
Brock-Fisher
Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2014 3:48 PM
To: Towertalk
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Discoverer 7-2 or Cushcraft xm-240
I have to second what Paul, W0AD said about the W6NL Moxon. I replaced a
CC shorty-forty with the Moxon design and the difference is NIGHT AND DAY,
-For the first time EVER, I find a frequency on 40 (never a 'clear' one,
just one where nobody comes yelling in your face to QSY). I call CQ for
10 minutes, and I notice that the frequency is getting QUIETER! Folks
are moving away from me because I am LOUD.
-The SWR is much better than the shorty-forty. Even with 'secret'
compromise settings, the shorty-forty will be over 2:1 when you go up
high in the band - such as operating split in a SSB contest. With the
Moxon, the SWR is below 1.5 anywhere - no need to retune the amp.
-There are no coil losses. Talking to W1JR, the coils on the
shorty-forty are lossier than you think - as the bandwidth is wider, so
the Q is lower, than predicted by modeling.
-The elements are longer, so they have more directivity in and of
themselves. This adds to a better pattern, more forward gain.
All in all, between the coil losses and the directivity, I'd say it is
~4 db better than the shorty-forty in forward gain. That's a lot on 40m!
Contact me off-list for details. I built one from scratch and would do
it again in a heartbeat.
-Tony, K1KP
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