Ladder Line-Fed Antennas





We love wire antennas to string between tall trees.
Tree Climber Friend Tom Becker scaling one of the firs in the photo below.
 



My favorite antenna!
94 ft dipole fed with 35' of window line hooked to a 50 ohm 100' coax to an auto tuner. Simple, yet effective.
 



A pair of firs on this open ridge 120 ft apart provide a great wire antenna location.



Here's the other ladder line-fed dipole
 This one is called a ZS6BKW
Essentially the same as the G5RV, maybe a little longer.
This one is about 90 degrees to the other antenna. Both trace their roots to the beginning of radio.




Bottom of the G5RV ladder line with a problem
Broken wire on center of SO-239 (2019)
We suspect that this was a cold solder joint after shortening the length  of the ladder matching section. Initial tests showed the precut ladder line was too long. We will blame the solder joint on the iron.. on a 100' cord!
 



Here's Dave's hermetically sealed 1:1 balun at the bottom of the ZS6BKW.
It may be too close to the stake its tied to!

Digging a ditch across the driveway for the underground coax feeder. Note the nice open ridge in the background.
(Far Left) Tall Fir with Dacron line and pulley at 40'
 

 



Outdoor antenna relay selects between G5RV and ZB6BKW
...more on webrelay
 


 



Topo map showing station location in Grid CN88
 A steep mountain directly to the east (deer mountain) effectively blocks signals from Europe.
 

   
     Other wire antennas
 
 
    White paper: Differences between the G5RV and ZS6BKW
 
 
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01/02/22