Can One Fan Dipole Cover 160 to 6 Meters?

Comments · 51

• TE

  @TelecomTraining · 3 months ago · pinned

  📡 How many bands does your fan dipole cover?<br><br>Have you built a fan dipole for 2 bands, 3 bands, 5 bands, or more?<br><br>At what point do you think the added complexity outweighs the benefits?<br><br>I&apos;d love to hear about your setup and experiences. 👇

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• N4

  @N4PGW-nc · 1 month ago

  Great video. &nbsp;I am well experienced in making the fan dipoles. As a novice I started making fan dipole according to the books. &nbsp;Back then, each band went off in a different direction like radials under a vertical. That kind of worked, but proved to be difficult to mechanically maintain. I found I could cut CPVC pipe and drill holes about 4 to 6 inches apart to feed wire through. &nbsp;These became my spacers. &nbsp;When I put together my first four band dipole, one for each of the novice bands, 80, 40, 15 and 10m, I learned to make the wires longer than needed, then trim the 10m band, then the 15, then the 40, and finally the 80m band. &nbsp;Once I got them trimmed, I used a little high school math to reverse engineer my length formula. &nbsp;The frequency times the length gave me the dividend. &nbsp;The number to divide. &nbsp;From then on, I could, using the same wire, make any antenna without ever having to trim it again. <br><br>As a General, and then later the WARC bands were added, I tried to make one antenna for 80-10m. &nbsp;It worked, but it was mechanically problematic. &nbsp;I finally decided that four bands was enough. Three is really a great number to deal with but four was the limit. &nbsp;The weight and flexibility became an issue. &nbsp;I&apos;m sure there were better places the full package of bands could be installed, but not in my yard.<br><br>The biggest advantages I discovered were these. &nbsp;I only ever used THHN wire. It was cheap enough by the spool, easy to purchase just walking distance away, and I could waterproof the copper. &nbsp;The first advantage of using it was the noise level. &nbsp;When we had ice storms, the old ham next door who was a ham before WWII said he had to get off the air due to the static noise. &nbsp;I had to ask what it was. He showed me on his station. &nbsp;He had to come check &nbsp;mine out and could not believe how quiet it was. &nbsp;He and most, if not all, the local hams used bare copper to build their antennas. &nbsp;That was how things were done. <br><br>The next biggest advantage came with 80 and 40 meters. As a novice, I didn&apos;t notice because I had a sliver of a band to operate on. &nbsp;But, as a general, I discovered I could cover the entire SSB portion of 75 meters, or all of the CW portion. A single dipole with the same wire had a narrower bandwidth. on 40m, I think it covered the whole spread from 7 to 7.3 or it just missed it a little. &nbsp;<br><br>Later on, I learned to turn the parallel dipole upside down. When pulling the 80m up, the spacers at the ends of bands tended to draw the ends near the longer wires above them. &nbsp; So, when I pulled a rope at the ends of the 10m element, and the spacers held up the 15m, for example, the 15 ends hung from the rope pulling on the ends of the 10m wire. &nbsp;That kept the 10m end away from the 15m (or 12m) elements. Before, the 40 and 80m elements might get blown too close to each other in the wind and weld themselves together when I operated. Inverting the order of the &nbsp;bands fixed that. <br><br>Using the 40m dipole on 15m. &nbsp;I never saw that work when I was a novice. &nbsp;The reason was where the CW band was for me. &nbsp;It really only works if you cut the 40m pretty close to the 7MHz frequency. &nbsp;Otherwise, by the time you triple the frequency, you are out of the 15m band. Like 80m, you have to choose where you want to transmit when you cut your antenna. <br><br>Today, if I duplicate that antenna design, I might use 10 or 12 gauge wire for the highest band (10m) because it would carry all the weight, but I would use nothing larger than 16 gauge for the other bands that don&apos;t have tension on them but hang under the 10m element or it&apos;s ropes. &nbsp; Back then, I was afraid my 100 watts would melt the 12 gauge wire so I used 10, LOL. That made for very heavy antennas.

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• JO

  @jonthebru · 3 months ago

  I &nbsp;have experimented with fan dipoles and concluded that 3 pairs of wire elements is the practical limit.

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• GE

  @GeorgeKK5X · 3 months ago

  Awesome and spoke in simple terms. 73 KK3R Texas👍

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• MR

  @MrErsoyyilmaz · 2 months ago

  Excellent explanation. Thank you

• AD

  @adamdudek2608 · 3 months ago (edited)

  Great video explaining key details of the fan dipole. Every antenna design has advantages and disadvantages and in the ham radio world, a lot of hams generalize why a certain antenna is &quot;best&quot; without delving into the details.<br><br>After some time, I figured out that the &quot;best&quot; antenna design is the one that fits my needs and has disadvantages that I can manage or work around.

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• DA

  @davemaier7 · 3 months ago

  You are awesome!

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• MI

  @michaelsilberstein · 1 month ago

  You can also do a directional V

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• SA

  @saiddemir2000 · 1 month ago

  Teşekkürler, TA5BIG 73.

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• BL

  @blackpowder-bulgaria · 3 months ago

  Nice!

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• SI

  @Simon-mz7sf · 3 months ago

  Thankyou

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• WH

  @WHLS-lz3wk · 3 weeks ago

  Another Fantastic tutorial Brother !!<br><br>Can you explain what happens when fans are raised to 45 degrees as in the shape of an upward pointing &quot; V &quot; ?<br><br>Also, Please, What happens if one fan is horizontal and other fan is 90 degrees up as in the shape of &quot; L &quot; ?<br><br>Best, Blessings, and 73 de W3HLS <br>~john<br>Massachusetts

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