Hi Folks,
I am getting ready to put up a Hygain Hy-Tower and plan to strip all the
stubs off it and use it as a dedicated 80M/160M antenna. I would
appreciate some pointers to websites or other sources of modification
information describing methods to make the Hy-Tower work well on both
bands, assuming of course it is placed over a decent radial field.
Hygain's optional base loading coil isn't a good option due to power
limitations and the need for manual band switching. Hygain's optional 40M
trap and horizontal wire is a better option but still not optimum with the
vast majority of the inverted L being horizontlaly polarized and close to
the ground.
I've done some research in the archives and have found some interesting
suggestions most involving lengthening the stinger for 80M. The idea that
appeals to me the most is adding top loading wires at or near the top of
the stinger to bring the HT to resonance on 160M, but I haven't seen many
references to this approach. Is it practical? How long would the top
loading wires need to be if I had four of them? Lastly, if I were
successful in getting the HT to resonate on 160M with top loading, it
would be too long for 80M. If I used a matching network to achieve a match
on 80M, would the performance suffer from being electrically too long? I
have also considered adding standoff insulators of some type to the HT to
support a 160M Inverted-L, parallel to the HT, and simply feed them
independently. Any other suggestions?
Thanks,
Bob K6ZZ
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Topband Reflector
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