Hustler Resonator versus Hamstick Dipole

[W4JRD]

I am in an apartment and my land lord has told me I could put up a small antenna under my Digital TV antenna on the 25 ft mast. But I can not put up a beam or wire antenna. I want to work 20m digital and some voice. Will a Hustler Resonator dipole work or would your recommend a Hamstick dipole. What kind of performance can I expect out of each. I'd love to here from people that have done this.

Thanks and Good DXing,
Jamie R. Dean - W4JRD

[WS4E]

What about an end fed wire to some support?

A Par Electronics End Fedz 40-20-10 wire is only about 40-something feet long and they work great.

[W4JRD]

The management has said no wires and it has to be small and on the mast. I would love to be able to install a real wire dipole but it can't happen here.

73 and Good DXing,
Jamie R. Dean - W4JRD

[WX7G]

I believe the Hustler resonator dipole will perform better but will have a higher SWR and less bandwidth. Either one will do the job.

[WX7G]

AntenneX magazine published an article (by me) two years ago detailing the construction of a 5' dipole for 20 meters. The radiation efficiency is 50% and it is simple to tune (it has a tuning 'bar').

It is 5' long with 3' diameter top hats and small loading coils. It uses a Beta match along with the tuning bar to quickly resonate where needed.

[KG6WLS]

I did something like this here when I was living in a condo for a spell.
 
http://www.chem.hawaii.edu/uham/vee.html

It didn't compete with the big guns, but I was still able to make contacts with this similar setup. I even used the Hustler adapter with 3 resonators (20, 17, and 10M) and did ok. Forget 40M and below with these. Very narrow bandwidth.

73

[KB2IUA]

I have two hamstick dipoles here in Brooklyn NY. One is for 20 meters and works quite well. It is a backup for a wire antenna and is just a little lower in signal reports.
The other is on 75 meters. I know on 75 it is not a great antenna, but it gets out with a good tuner where I would not have space for a full dipole.

If you go with the hamstick, get the real Hamstick product, not the copies. They are built better and sag less when mounted sideways as a dipole. the landlord will like the that you will be able to keep the tips above eye level.

[AC9TS]

I was just wondering, would the Hamstick dipole work a little better if mounted as a vertical dipole?  It should lower the radiation angle, I would think.  That might be a little easier to mount as well as the sag of the whip would be reduced.

Tom - AC9TS

[N3LCW]

Why not ask the landlord if no visible wires would be OK?  You can either run a Hustler type antenna and use #24 magnet wire as a counterpoise laid across the roof space tiles which will be invisible, or use the PAR EndFedz 40/20/10 and use the #24 magnet wire instead of the #18 wire it comes with.  Either one you use will be very effective with a decent length of #24 magnet wire countpoise.  The counterpoise will be doing most of the radiation.

Andrew
N3LCW

[G0HIS]

hi
why not build yourself a mag loop no going outside up masts tell your landlord you have packed in ur ham radio,
make him feel a bit of a scrooge hi hi i used mag loop for a time and made it over the pond on many occasions
..build one for 80 as well ..keep the kids away or they may get burnt and enjoy
rgds dave j wood

[WA7NCL]

Let me see, you can put up a 25 foot mast, but you can't have a "big antenna".  Why not figure out how to load the 25 foot mast?  A 1/4 wave on 20m is about 17 ft.  Put a fake sat. TV antenna on top of a 17 foot mast and add some sort of ground system and you have a 20m vertical.  If you where to feed it with an autotuner it would work on 40 thru 10m with better results than a "hamstick dipole".

[N7IOH]

Jamie, as was mentioned earlier, look at the Par end-fed half wave antennas.  I know what your landlord said, but even with your dipole you are going to have a feed line.  The feed line of your dipole even if you use RG58 will be MUCH larger than the Par antenna which I believe is only about 1/8" in diameter.  The Par 20 meter end-fed is only 33 feet long.  It would be more stealthy then the dipoles you are thinking of making and work MUCH better.  The 20 meter Par antenna has a 300 KHz bandwidth and comes in a 100 watt or a 300 watt unit.  Take a look at the Par antenna, link.
http://www.parelectronics.com/end_fedz.htm
Then show the photos to him and see if he will reconsider  the no wire antenna.

Here is a link to the eham reviews where Par has a 5 out of 5 with 192 reviews.  Some have even used his antennas inside their homes with great results.
 http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/3632

While the dipole you are thinking of making will work, 20 meters is a tuff band for those with poor signals and antenna that can't hear.

Al, n7ioh

[VE3ES]

Check out the MFJ loop antennas.  Several of the locals have them and they perform like there is no tomorrow.  I forget the model #'s but one is for 10-40 and the other (I believe smaller) is for 10-20m.  Very high Q which means a lot of tweeking the attached control box but the stuff that these guys work with 100 watts is unreal.  You could put one on the balcony and nobody will notice.  Keep it inside the apartment as well!!  A couple of the guys locally have them inside.  One in his attic and the other in his garage of the condo that he owns with deed restrictions.  Both work like gangbusters...  The performance will be far better than a mobile whip antenna.  No comparison.

[WY3X]

25 foot tall mast? Don't you have guy wires on it? I'd say they're required for a mast that tall! Run the "safety flag" up the pole with your landlord. What if it falls and hits something, blah, blah, blah.... Explain why you need some (hopefully four) guy wires on it. Install a couple of insulators at precise locations in your guy wires and you'll have two inverted vee dipoles!

73, -KR4WM