13 Nov 2019

HF antennas

Some years ago I bought an x80 vertical antenna. These are basically Rybakov vertical antennas. I erected mine briefly at the old QTH, but have not done so here. I would need help with erection, whereas my end-fed I managed to string to a nearby tree on my own. The end-fed is a good match on 10m (my favourite HF band) , where it seems to do quite reasonably on FT8.  So, for now, the x80 is unused.

At the time (2011) the x80 had mixed reviews. Some said the aluminium flexed too much and broke. Being a vertical, it is probably noisier than a horizontal antenna. If you have an auto ATU it is quite an easy way to get on several HF bands. These days I think there are stronger versions around.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/x80

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