Ham Radio Help Desk

Irrespective of the fact the solder-the-braid PL-259 connector is probably the worst RF connector conceived by the mind of man¹ and the fact the spark shown in the video is in an area that should be a direct short, the video, shown below, wonderfully shows the ease with which static charge can build up on a dipole antenna.

That’s not the point though. If we were to cut off the connector we would surely still see a spark from center conductor to shield. If the cable were near station ground I would expect a spark jump. That large a charge has to go somewhere.
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I just came back from helping prep a ham station for a Camporee coinciding with the world wide Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) event.

They have just two antennas: a two meter omni and a ladder line fed 135 foot dipole. The dipole is inverted V style atop 12 sections of 48 inch aluminum military mast. The top of the antenna is about 54 feet AGL. Coupled with a good balanced tuner, this thing can work quite well on most of the bands.

The first contact from Virginia was with Japan on 20 meters phone. Not too shabby for such a simple antenna.

Tomorrow we will give it the big test. I know it will work fine because it has already proven its worth during many field days.

If the only antenna you have it a ladder line fed dipole, put it up and go for it.

Tom, ke6ynh, asks…

“Why don’t hams like vertical dipole antennas.
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In a recent email from the ARRL concerning ARES topics, a writer compares the coaxial vertical dipole antenna with a J-Pole for VHF work. He says…

“With no real models for comparison, it is difficult to compare patterns for each antenna. I would suspect that the J-Pole would not have an omni-directional pattern and would therefore produce a lobe or lobes giving gain in some directions”

Really?
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With the upcoming solar cycle pushing operations on the HF bands towards success on 20 meters to 10 meters you might be wondering if a vertical antenna may be the right choice for making the most of this time.

Well, to be honest you may well have just as much success with a simple horizontal dipole strung up.

Dipoles are pretty easy to build and don’t cost too much if you would rather purchase one from Alpha-Delta or the Wireman.

However, if you…
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