Good evening all, I see I was mentioned in the latest “Anomalous Propagation” issue concerning my construction of a discone antenna. I will try to attach a photo, but I’m not sure how this list handles photos and attachments. I “finished” the antenna this afternoon. I put that in quotes because I’m never sure when a project is finished. I never seem to be totally satisfied with it. I am always looking at how to improve it. I would say the antenna has a “useable” SWR at 29, 52, 146, and 446 MHz. These are the frequencies for FM operation and that is what my son wanted to use it for. The antenna will be installed in the attic because he lives in a covenant restricted area. I tried to tell him I would build it out of strings of Christmas lights and then we could put it on the chimney and call it a Christmas decoration. He didn’t think that would work. So, it ended up with a six foot diameter disk on top made with eight spokes of #12 solid copper wire supported by a quarter inch thick plywood circle. The cone consists of 8, 8.5 foot lengths of #24 stranded, insulated wire. The center support is 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe. A foldable sprocket of eight arms at the base spread the wires around the pole. Think picnic table umbrella. That give it the ability to fold up for travel. So looking at the drawing of the antenna, I thought that a disk and a cone were being simulated with wires. I reasoned that the ultimate realization of this would be a solid cone and a solid disk. Thus, I thought, the more wires, the better the simulation. So, I added circumference wires around the middle and around the base of the cone. After the initial assembly, the analyzer showed very poor SWR over the entire range from 29-450 MHz. So I removed the circumference wires. Viola! The SWR is now acceptable (useable) on all frequencies of interest. depending on what frequency, it ranges from 1.5:1 to 3.5:1. Not great, but useable. Now I am faced with a dilemma. I also speculated that the top disk would be better simulated if I added concentric rings at 3 inch intervals around the center. Based on my sad experience with the cone portion, I am tempted to rip off the concentric rings and see what happens. But, it took a lot more work to put those top rings in as compared to the two circumference rings of #12 wire that I put on the cone. So, I am reluctant to remove them. I conferred with WA5VJB. His sage advice was, “If it is working, don’t mess with it.” I can’t argue with that logic. So, the antenna is apart and folded now, ready for the trip to NC where it will soon be used to tickle the inputs of repeaters on several bands. Before I let you go, I noticed the “preamble” to the AP lists the 10GHz and 5.7GHz beacons and that I monitor them daily. I’m afraid I haven’t done that for over a year now. Until I get my tower back up I won’t be on microwaves. It will be at least another six months or so. 73, Dave, K4TO ps My son, K4TOO and I made our first QSO on 60 meters the other night. We were both running 10 watts to KX3s. He had a wire 40m vertical strung in the trees (after dark) and I was using my 160 meter vertical which has 5 dB of gain or so on 60 meters.