Fri 9th Apr 2021, 06:39
6 Band Parallel Dipole Array
Three years ago I put up a 15/17 meter dual dipole array, simply a coax going to a 1:1 balun then to the dipoles. The dipoles were separated by 6", were 32' above ground, and flat topped using ropes and pulleys attached to other structures. The SWR was 1.7:1 on both bands and the antenna worked very well.
To maximize the use of space I took the 2 band antenna down and replaced it with a 6 band version which covers 6, 10, 12, 15, 17, and 20 meters. A folded dipole is used for 20 meters, the rest are full size dipoles. The dipoles are made of cheap and light weight 450 ohm window line, 2 antennas per strip of window line, and the antenna lengths are calculated using the formula 468/f mHz 468/18.1 = 25.85' = total length of dipole for 17m. There is a left and right side to a dipole so 25.85/2 = 12.9' so 2 each
13' pieces of ladder line will make the 17/10m dipoles, another 2 each 13' pieces will make the 20/6m dipoles, and 2 more 13' pieces for the 15/12m...
