I'm Now on 17 Meters
After messing around with EZNEC and conjuring up the "perfect" 17M dipole, I measured, cut, installed, measured, cut, measured, cut, measured, cut.............
Again, more trips from the attic to the basement then I was hoping for. The model showed I should be getting near 1.15:1 VSWR.........I'm getting 1.4:1 VSWR. I might be able to trim off "just a bit more" but then I've already learned my lesson on the 20M dipole. Don't Get Greedy!!
I had a quick QSO with John, W5GI, in Austin, Texas on 17M and he gave me a 59 so I must be close enough to resonnace. He also said my audio was good and actually played back what I sent him.....pretty cool.
I'm probably not going to mess with 40M for a while. Again, I've got a simulation for a "side of the house outline" dipole but have a feeling that it won't work near as well as the simulator says. I know I'm going to need a tuner for this but I don't have the $$$ for one at this time. Maybe I'll throw some wire out and see where it lands VSWR wise. If it's really bad, then I'll just wait to get a tuner in the spring.
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