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The Care and Feeding of
Simple, Broadband HF
Antennas
Tom McDermott, N5EG
March 3, 2011
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Problem Statement
1. Cover multiple HF Amateur Bands with one antenna.
– 80m through 10m if possible.
2. Use single feedline.3. Minimize cost4. Minimize visibility of the antenna.5. Reasonable performance.
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Some Approaches
• Trapped Dipole or Fan Dipole– Reasonable compromise.– Difficult to achieve more than about 3-4 bands.– Visibility increased (compared to single wire).– May be difficult to thread through trees.
• Doublet antenna or wire loop– Simple, low cost– Low visibility– Usually easy to install and thread through trees.– But poor impedance match across HF.
• Wire vertical– Requires radials– Easier to place tuner at the antenna feed point.
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Antenna Drawings
Trapped Dipole
Fan Dipole
Vertical wire
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Doublet (non-resonant dipole)
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Common Misconception
• Misconception: An antenna (dipole or loop) must be resonant to work well.– Antenna does not need be resonant to work
well (for example: extended double zepp)– However, we do need to compensate for
antenna impedance mismatch so that it will accept power.
– If antenna is too short, losses may be high.
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Impedance of Doublet
or Loop
• Dipole: Low impedance at f/2, 3f/2, 5f/2, etc. (odd multiples of half wavelength).
• Loop: low impedance at f, 2f, 3f, 4f, etc. (odd and even multiples of wavelength).
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SWR - 88 foot doublet
88 Foot Doublet
1
10
100
1000
10000
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Frequency, MHz
SW
R
SWR Zo=50
SWR Zo=450
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SWR - 200 foot loop
200 Foot Loop
1
10
100
1000
10000
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Frequency, MHz
SW
R
SWR Zo=50
SWR Zo=450
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SWR – 43 foot wire
vertical + 16 radials
43 Foot Vertical
1
10
100
1000
10000
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Frequency, MHz
SW
R
SWR Zo=50
SWR Zo=450
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Approaches to
Matching
1. Make the antenna resonant– Unfortunately this is a narrow-band process.– Requires lot of antenna elements or traps to cover
many HF bands.2. Place a variable antenna tuner right at the
antenna:– Requires adjustment as we change frequency.– Automatic remote tuner (and power) is needed.– Feedline operates ‘matched’ (a good thing).
3. Use a manual tuner in the shack.– Feedline operates ‘mis-matched’ causing excess loss
(a bad thing).
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Feed options
Coa
x
Ladd
erlin
e
AutoTuner
Coa
x +
D
C P
ower
TunerC
oax
High line loss at high-SWR frequencies
DC PowerInjector
Coa
x
Remote outdoor auto-tuner near antenna feedpoint.
Indoor manual or auto-tuner.
Tuner
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Matching Network:
40m doublet on 80m
• Zin = 20.7 – j947 Ω SWR50 = 868:1 ‘Q’ at the antenna is 45.5– Antenna voltage @ 1500 watts = 8056 volts !– A traditional high-pass T-network just can’t match this load.
• L-network is much easier for this case.– Lser = 44.1 µH, Cshunt = 1100 pF
• 35 feet away, through the feedline– Zin = 4.1 – j222– Lser = 10.7 µH, Cshunt = 3100 pF (note huge value of C)
• 50 feet away, through the feedline, a T-network can match (but high losses).– Zin = 3.1 – j12.5
• At half-wavelength of feedline, again HPF T-network cannot achieve match.
AntennaFeedline
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Matching Network:
40m doublet on 20m
• Zin = 1717 – j2505 Ω SWR50 = 107:1– ‘L-network’ can match – but the components must be swapped
around from 80m configuration
• 16 feet away through the feedline:– Zin = 29.5 – j2.9 Ω– L-network needs original configuration
L-network configuration depends on the line length– T-network matches through many different combinations of line
length.
AntennaFeedline
AntennaFeedline
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Feedline
• Feedline has loss.– Ladderline usually has lower loss than coaxial cable.– Ladderline requires more care in routing than coax.
• If the SWR on the line is low, the loss is lowest.– As the SWR increases, the line loss increases.– Both coax and ladderline can have catastrophic
losses under high SWR conditions.
Coax: electric field is completely inside the
dielectric (assuming no common mode current).
Ladderline: electric field is mostly within 4x conductor spacing.
Separation from other conductive objects
needed.
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Line Loss vs. SWR
Cable loss + Excess loss vs. SWR
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
1 10 100 1000 10000
SWR
dB (C
able
loss
+ E
xces
s lo
ss) Cable loss = 0.2 dB
Cable loss = 0.5 dB
Cable loss = 1 dB
Cable loss = 2 dB
Cable loss = 3 dB
Cable loss = 5 dB
Cable loss = 0.001 dB
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Feedline loss – 70 foot
bent doublet
Feedline loss vs. Frequency70 Foot Doublet, 30m Feedline
0
5
10
15
20
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Frequency, MHz
Lo
ss,
dB
.
RG8
450ohm WindowLine
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Feedline loss – 200 foot
loop
Feedline loss vs. Frequency200 Foot loop, 30m Feedline
N5EG 12/23/2010
0
5
10
15
20
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Frequency, MHz
Loss
, dB
.
450ohm WindowLine
RG8
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Feedline loss – 43 foot
wire vertical + radials
Feedline loss vs. Frequency43 Foot Vertical - 16 radials, 30m Feedline
0
5
10
15
20
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Frequency, MHz
Lo
ss,
dB
.
RG8
450ohm WindowLine
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Feedline conclusion
• High SWR causes problems.• Feedline needs to have very low loss for
wideband operation.• Coaxial cable loss usually always too high.• Heavy-gauge ladderline recommended for
reasonable feed distances -or-• Put your tuner right at the antenna.
– That may be easier for a vertical than doublet or loop.
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Antenna Pattern
• Since we’re operating the antenna far away from normal resonant points, what happens to the pattern?– Almost omni-directional at low frequencies.– Like a dipole where it’s ~ half wave.– Has gain at full wavelength.– Pattern develops many lobes at higher
frequencies.
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70 foot doublet
elevation pattern
80 meters 40 meters
10 meters20 meters
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Azimuth pattern of 70 foot
slightly non-symmetrical
doublet
80 meters
10 meters20 meters
40 meters
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Elevation pattern of 2-
wavelength loop
40 meters
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Azimuth pattern of 265
foot loop
40 meters 20 meters 10 meters
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Elevation pattern of 43
foot vertical
80 meters(looks almost exactly the
same on 40 meters)
20 meters 10 meters
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Summary
• A simple non-resonant antenna can work well over a wide range of HF frequencies.
• It’s especially critical to control feedline losses:– Need antenna tuner at the antenna, or– Feed with low loss line (ladderline) and use antenna
tuner in the shack.
• Doublet & Loop need to be > 65% of full size:– Or even ladderline losses may become too high.
• On higher bands, the antenna pattern becomes ‘messy’.