I'm planning an antenna for 6m ssb/digital and I'm looking for some suggestions. Don't have a tower but I can roof or attic mount something. This will be for a homebrew transceiver which I don't expect to ever break the 50W level, likely half that. I'm thinking either a bowtie, 5 element yagi, or an LP. I'll be building rather than buying. I lean towards an attic system if attenuation won't be massive simply because it's easier to access for maintenance and doesn't require weatherproofing. Given the lower power I think I can get away with a used TV rotator as they can be found pretty cheaply.

I would consider the LFA or OWA designs by G0KSC. They have wide bandwidth, are quiet and can be built from plans on his website. K4TO On Mon, Apr 27, 2020 at 12:33 PM Trevor Clarke via mvus-list < mvus-list@lists.febo.com> wrote: > I'm planning an antenna for 6m ssb/digital and I'm looking for some > suggestions. Don't have a tower but I can roof or attic mount something. > This will be for a homebrew transceiver which I don't expect to ever break > the 50W level, likely half that. > > I'm thinking either a bowtie, 5 element yagi, or an LP. I'll be building > rather than buying. I lean towards an attic system if attenuation won't be > massive simply because it's easier to access for maintenance and doesn't > require weatherproofing. > > Given the lower power I think I can get away with a used TV rotator as they > can be found pretty cheaply. > _______________________________________________ > mvus-list mailing list > mvus-list@lists.febo.com > http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/mvus-list_lists.febo.com >

Trevor, I second K4TO’s comment. I have had very good luck with a 7 el and 8 el LFA design for 6M and 15 el LFA for 2M BUT considering your space restrictions, of the 3 choices you mentioned, I’d go with a 5 el yagi and in that space, the LFA probably wouldn’t matter so build a 5 el or get a 5 el cushcraft, etc. Good luck. 6 is starting to see a few Es openings these days and with a 5 el and 50W, you should be able to do OK on FT8 or SSB on strong openings but most activity nowdays is on FT8 digital. 73 Steve K8DZ > On Apr 27, 2020, at 12:37 PM, Dave Sublette via mvus-list <mvus-list@lists.febo.com> wrote: > > I would consider the LFA or OWA designs by G0KSC. They have wide > bandwidth, are quiet and can be built from plans on his website. > > K4TO > > On Mon, Apr 27, 2020 at 12:33 PM Trevor Clarke via mvus-list < > mvus-list@lists.febo.com> wrote: > >> I'm planning an antenna for 6m ssb/digital and I'm looking for some >> suggestions. Don't have a tower but I can roof or attic mount something. >> This will be for a homebrew transceiver which I don't expect to ever break >> the 50W level, likely half that. >> >> I'm thinking either a bowtie, 5 element yagi, or an LP. I'll be building >> rather than buying. I lean towards an attic system if attenuation won't be >> massive simply because it's easier to access for maintenance and doesn't >> require weatherproofing. >> >> Given the lower power I think I can get away with a used TV rotator as they >> can be found pretty cheaply. >> _______________________________________________ >> mvus-list mailing list >> mvus-list@lists.febo.com >> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/mvus-list_lists.febo.com >> > _______________________________________________ > mvus-list mailing list > mvus-list@lists.febo.com > http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/mvus-list_lists.febo.com

Trevor, If you do it with a LP antenna, don't overdesign the bandwidth- doing so will needlessly cost in gain for a given boom length. Have you looked at offerings from DX Engineering and other ham dealers? Even if you don't care for the prices, you might get some additional ideas. Dana On Mon, Apr 27, 2020 at 11:34 AM Trevor Clarke via mvus-list < mvus-list@lists.febo.com> wrote: > I'm planning an antenna for 6m ssb/digital and I'm looking for some > suggestions. Don't have a tower but I can roof or attic mount something. > This will be for a homebrew transceiver which I don't expect to ever break > the 50W level, likely half that. > > I'm thinking either a bowtie, 5 element yagi, or an LP. I'll be building > rather than buying. I lean towards an attic system if attenuation won't be > massive simply because it's easier to access for maintenance and doesn't > require weatherproofing. > > Given the lower power I think I can get away with a used TV rotator as they > can be found pretty cheaply. > _______________________________________________ > mvus-list mailing list > mvus-list@lists.febo.com > http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/mvus-list_lists.febo.com >

Trevor, I second K4TO's suggestion of the G0KSC designs. I built his dual-bander 5-el 6-meter and 4-el 10-meter on a shared 16-foot boom last winter and got to play with it a little bit last summer before I had to tear everything down to move here: https://www.g0ksc.co.uk/lfa-fb-test/28-50mhz-9el-dualbander.html It was a good performer. I bought the boom at a local (to my old QTH in MD) metal supplier and bought the element material from DX Engineering. I bought the Stauff clamps in bulk from a supplier somewhere along the Gulf. I think they were $1.50 each or so with shipping. I have some extras you would be welcome to. Remaining parts came from McMaster and my junk bin. I have a lot of aluminum plate drops if you need them for brackets. I used a K9YC design bead balun with mix-43 beads from Mouser over RG-213. My 20-meter antenna at the old QTH was G0KSC's 4-element OWA design slightly modified by me to fit on a shorter (by 4 inches) boom and to use the element taper I had available from U.S. Gov surplus HF LPDA elements. I have the Leeson formulas coded up in Python to expedite the scaling. I'm planning to clean that code up eventually (it was one of my first forays into Python and I didn't do everything the way I would now) but you're welcome to it if for the formulas alone. That antenna was a beast and I worked a lot of DX with it...as one does on the East Coast with 1.4 kW and even a low and small monobander on 20-meters. :) 73, --Ethan, K8GU. On Mon, Apr 27, 2020 at 12:46 PM Steve Koogler via mvus-list <mvus-list@lists.febo.com> wrote: > > Trevor, I second K4TO’s comment. I have had very good luck with a 7 el and 8 el LFA design for 6M and 15 el LFA for 2M BUT considering your space restrictions, of the 3 choices you mentioned, I’d go with a 5 el yagi and in that space, the LFA probably wouldn’t matter so build a 5 el or get a 5 el cushcraft, etc. Good luck. 6 is starting to see a few Es openings these days and with a 5 el and 50W, you should be able to do OK on FT8 or SSB on strong openings but most activity nowdays is on FT8 digital. > > 73 > Steve > K8DZ > > > > > > > On Apr 27, 2020, at 12:37 PM, Dave Sublette via mvus-list <mvus-list@lists.febo.com> wrote: > > > > I would consider the LFA or OWA designs by G0KSC. They have wide > > bandwidth, are quiet and can be built from plans on his website. > > > > K4TO > > > > On Mon, Apr 27, 2020 at 12:33 PM Trevor Clarke via mvus-list < > > mvus-list@lists.febo.com> wrote: > > > >> I'm planning an antenna for 6m ssb/digital and I'm looking for some > >> suggestions. Don't have a tower but I can roof or attic mount something. > >> This will be for a homebrew transceiver which I don't expect to ever break > >> the 50W level, likely half that. > >> > >> I'm thinking either a bowtie, 5 element yagi, or an LP. I'll be building > >> rather than buying. I lean towards an attic system if attenuation won't be > >> massive simply because it's easier to access for maintenance and doesn't > >> require weatherproofing. > >> > >> Given the lower power I think I can get away with a used TV rotator as they > >> can be found pretty cheaply. > >> _______________________________________________ > >> mvus-list mailing list > >> mvus-list@lists.febo.com > >> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/mvus-list_lists.febo.com > >> > > _______________________________________________ > > mvus-list mailing list > > mvus-list@lists.febo.com > > http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/mvus-list_lists.febo.com > > _______________________________________________ > mvus-list mailing list > mvus-list@lists.febo.com > http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/mvus-list_lists.febo.com -- http://www.k8gu.com/ Repair. Re-use. Re-purpose. Recycle.