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<div> <font size="2">Hi Willie,</font></div>
<div><font size="2"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2">A couple of observations:</font></div>
<div><font size="2"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2">1 - it doesn't need to be super straight. any angle greater than 60 should do it.</font></div>
<div><font size="2"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2">2 - if you have choices on which point can be the highest, go for the center. The center portion of the dipole carries most of the current, so the higher the better.</font><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><font size="2">3 - shoot for the middle of the band - it's a squeeze, but you might get most or all of the band at less than 2:1 SWR. If you have a tuner on your rig, it hardly matters at this fequency<br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2">4 - depending on where your coax enters the house, you have the opportunity to base feed the whole thing as an 80m vertical</font></div>
<div><font size="2"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2">5 - might as well have a 20m dipole on the same feed points as well. That way you get 20. Though the SWR may be a bit over 2:1, you will get 15m as well.</font></div>
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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: William Smith <w_smith@compusmiths.com><br>
To: bars@w1hh.org<br>
Sent: Thu, Sep 3, 2020 7:11 pm<br>
Subject: [bars] 40M Dipole?<br>
<br>
<div id="yiv6847165435">
<div>Hi All,
<div class="yiv6847165435"><br class="yiv6847165435"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435">As I mentioned last night during the Zoom meeting, I'm looking at building a 40M dipole out of some wire, insulators, and an SO-239 connector, using essentially the instructions at:</div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><br class="yiv6847165435"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://dcasler.com/2011/02/17/ham-radio-40-meter-dipole-your-first-antenna/" class="yiv6847165435">https://dcasler.com/2011/02/17/ham-radio-40-meter-dipole-your-first-antenna/</a></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><br class="yiv6847165435"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435">I'm hoping to stretch it out across the roof peak of my house, which has lots of space:</div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><br class="yiv6847165435"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><img id="yiv68471654351B7903C8-1BD5-48EE-9ECB-A083B8FE7451" src="cid:Qeeb92KwmnV1Z9Pts5NH" yahoo_partid="1.2.2" class="yiv6847165435" width="727" height="508"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><br class="yiv6847165435"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435">The ridge of the larger side is 40 feet, and the smaller side is 25 feet, so 66 feet ought to be do-able.</div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><br class="yiv6847165435"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435">I have a couple of questions for the experts:</div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><br class="yiv6847165435"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435">1) Does it make much difference if the antenna is straight? I might do something like:</div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><br class="yiv6847165435"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><img id="yiv6847165435A4CF11FB-E719-41F3-AF9A-8B379F015EB9" src="cid:aVIEpXlOF6QuCJ8f4uYS" yahoo_partid="1.2.3" class="yiv6847165435" width="567" height="516"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><br class="yiv6847165435"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435">To stay away from the ridgelines, where I know there's a lot of wiring (the point of the "Vee" is where I have a couple of antenna poles.)</div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><br class="yiv6847165435"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435">2) Obviously I want to start out long and shorten the wires, so as to avoid the "I cut it three times and it's still too short!" problem, but I'm not sure if I have to cut the (insulated) wire at the ends, or if I can wrap it back around itself (which would allow me to lengthen it if I overshoot).</div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><br class="yiv6847165435"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435">3) Should I aim for one end of the band or the middle? Or is it going to be pretty good throughout the band?</div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><br class="yiv6847165435"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435">Is there anything else I should know before I start?</div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><br class="yiv6847165435"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435">Many thanks in advance!</div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><br class="yiv6847165435"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435">73,</div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><br class="yiv6847165435"></div>
<div class="yiv6847165435">Willie</div>
<div class="yiv6847165435">N1JBJ</div>
<div class="yiv6847165435"><br class="yiv6847165435"></div>
</div>
</div>
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