[Antennas] RG-178 balun turns count

Fri Jul 2 18:41:44 EDT 2010

Except for boat anchor operating in the winter I do almost all of my 
hamming on 20 CW ... picnic table QRP. I've had excellent "luck" with my 
version of the C-Pole without a complex/large ground system system. 
Using it (without any ground system) and 5 watts on 14.050MHz I recently 
got a 579 from EA6UN is the western Mediterranean while relaxing at a 
lakeside resort here in Minnesota. I use an endfed 67' wire when I have 
a tree but the C-Pole can be made self supporting. I can put it up in 15 
minutes without worrying about a bunch of radials/tripping hazards or 
locating a convenient antenna support or two. See 
http://w0vlz.blogspot.com/2010/05/c-pole-antenna-for-qrpxpeditions.html 
for more information.
btw, my experience has shown me that the balun situation is not 
"extremely difficult" in practice. My 15 turns of RG8X on a 4" form is 
self resonant at 32MHz. My C-Pole measures 1:1 at 14.060 MHz rising to 
2.5:1 at 14.35MHz and 1.2:1 at 14.0MHz.
73,
Niel - W0VLZ
http://www.prismnet.com/~nielw/wa5vlz.htm
Rick Karlquist wrote:
> Both Jim and Danny are correct. Jim is not trying to
> address corner cases like the C pole. I'll jump in here
> and ask:
>> In light of the extremely difficult balun situation and
> the relatively narrow bandwidth, why would I even want
> to build a C-pole? In most cases, it isn't that hard to
> build a 20 meter ground plane, which will be foolproof.
> If I were in a restricted area where even that weren't possible,
> I would just fall back to my mobile, with a Hi-Q screwdriver
> and CB whip (total height 13 feet). Also foolproof and
> probably gets out as well as the C-pole and it cannot be
> outlawed. Plus it covers a lot of bands. What is the
> problem that the C-pole is the optimum solution for?
>> Rick N6RK
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