Friday, February 18, 2011

True longwire antennas

 

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Figure  shows the true resonant longwire antenna. It is a horizontal antenna, and if properly installed, it is not simply attached to a convenient support (as is true with the random length antenna). Rather, the longwire is installed horizontally like a dipole. The ends are supported (dipole-like) from standard end insulators and rope. The feedpoint of the longwire is one end, so we expect to see a voltage antinode where the feeder is attached. For this reason we do not use coaxial cable, but rather either parallel transmission line (also sometimes called open-air line or some such name), or 450-Ω twin lead. The transmission line is excited from any of several types of balanced antenna tuning unit (see Fig.). Alternatively, a standard antenna tuning unit (designed for coaxial cable) can be used if a 4:1 balun transformer is used between the output of the tuner and the input of the feedline.

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