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Re: [TowerTalk] Coax lengths for phasing a stack

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Coax lengths for phasing a stack
From: Jim Brown <jim@audiosystemsgroup.com>
Reply-to: jim@audiosystemsgroup.com
Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2015 10:23:01 -0800
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
On Sat,2/7/2015 6:48 PM, Grant Saviers wrote:
I'm ruminating about what lengths I need for 5L over 5L stacks to equalize the antenna feedpoint phase. The literature seems thin and the common answer is "make the feed-lines the same length", which I am certain will work.

Yes.

However, when the stack separations are sufficient, there may be more than 1 wavelength of coax needed to equalize the lengths. e.g. 60' separation on 20m at 0.89 vf (LDF5) is just about 1 wl. It seems to me there is little downside with ham radio modulation systems to phase at 0 (equal lengths) or +/- n * 360 degrees (where n is 1 or 2). Perhaps some cw waveshaped attack/decay envelopes will change a tiny bit, but that seems like a slight downside.

It's important to understand that PHASE is NOT a two-valued function, it is a CONTINUOUS function, measured in degrees, and it is a function of frequency and time. That 1 WL line will only be 1 WL at the frequency for which it is cut; either side of that, the drive to the two Yagis will be increasingly out of phase. The difference may or may not be enough to matter. The effect would be to tilt the vertical pattern, and would be most visible in the nulls. Equal length lines has the advantage of making them in phase across the band.

73, Jim K9YC
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