160 meter dipole, insulated wire, and high swrs

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160 meter dipole, insulated wire, and high swrs	Reply
by K9FON on November 2, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
i just put up a 160 meter dipole and now i cant get it to tune below a 3.1 swrs. It is made up of insulated #14 guage wire that i got from Home Depot. No matter what i do i cant get it to tune. Is this because of the insulation acting like a dielectric and making the antenna appear long?

RE: 160 meter dipole, insulated wire, and high swr	Reply
by KG7LR on November 2, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
How long is it and how high is it? -R.

RE: 160 meter dipole, insulated wire, and high swrs	Reply
by N5LRZ on November 2, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
I have always found that a 3 SWR is a pointer to the possibility of a bad feedpoint connection, most often the shield connection. Check both connections at the feedpoint of the antenna. ALSO check your transmission line for shorts and if you are using coax check the coax connectors to make sure that they are properly attached.

RE: 160 meter dipole, insulated wire, and high swrs	Reply
by KB9CRY on November 2, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
It's probably too low. How are measuring SWR?

RE: 160 meter dipole, insulated wire, and high swrs	Reply
by K9FON on November 2, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
its only up 40' to the center insluator. I know, i know, its not high enough but i have to make do here with what i have. Tomorrow im going to dig deeper into it. I have a feeling that it might be a bad connector.

RE: 160 meter dipole, insulated wire, and high swr	Reply
by WB6BYU on November 2, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
What have you tried doing to tune it? What does the SWR sweep look like across the band? What type of coax are you using and how long is it? Are you using a balun at the feedpoint? Can you hear signals OK on it?

RE: 160 meter dipole, insulated wire, and high swr	Reply
by K9FON on November 2, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
No balun. No analyser.

RE: 160 meter dipole, insulated wire, and high swrs	Reply
by K9IUQ on November 2, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
"its only up 40' to the center insluator. I know, i know, its not high enough but i have to make do here with what i have" Do not blame the wire, it is not high enough. Putting a 160 mtr dipole at 40 ft is like putting a 20 mtr dipole at 5 ft. You will get the same result or probably worse since 160 mtrs is an unforgiving band. Take it down. Put up an inverted L or sloper. Put down radials. Unless you just want to talk in your county or state a 40ft high dipole on 160 mtrs will not give much satisfaction. Also do not worry about a 3:1 SWR. At 160 mtrs you are not going to lose much power. If your tuner can tune it - - use it and forget the SWR. And Remember, most of us have to "make do" with what we have on 160 mtrs Stan K9IUQ

RE: 160 meter dipole, insulated wire, and high swr	Reply
by K9FON on November 2, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
Coax is RG 8x. The signals i get are good. Right now im on 1.940 and I hear some stations 20 plus. I just think its too low. But then again i dont know yet until tomorrow when i can check it out more. I have been talking to a ham friend on Yahoo Chat and he told me to se if the "hot" side is low to the ground. He told me to move the "hot" side higher and see what that does.

RE: 160 meter dipole, insulated wire, and high swr	Reply
by K9FON on November 2, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
Yes it is low. But like you said just use a tuner and go with it.

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