The ZS6BKW Beats My 160m Doublet On 15m?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ม.ค. 2025
- I found the 15-meter band open today and tuned up my 160-meter Doublet antenna to listen and maybe make a contact or two. I don’t know what came over me but I decided to switch over to the ZS6BKW multi-band antenna I bought from NI4L.com. The ZS6BKW is resonant in the FM portion of 10 meters and all of 12, 17, 20, and 40 meters. It will work 6, 15, 30, 60, and 80 with a good tuner. I’ve never even considered the ZS6BKW for 15 meters but it works well on 30, 60, and 80 meters, so why not try it out on 15, now that I have a chance? In this video you will see the shocking results.
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73, de N4HNH
When you take a long wire antenna and tune it to higher frequencies the pattern changes drastically. Images of the patterns are available to see online. Your primary band generally has large lobes broadside of the wire which becomes many lobes as you head towards the higher frequencies. It gets to the point that the pattern isn't straight off the broadside and is somewhat directional off the ends of the wire. That doesn't mean it doesn't work, its just something we need to be aware of.
Yep. You are correct. That’s what I like about the Doublet family of antennas. Remember too that multiple lobes produce multiple nulls. So I get tremendous gain at higher frequencies but also tremendous nulls. Fortunately, for my installation, the ZS6BKW has lobes of gain where the Doublet antenna system doesn’t.
The ZS6BKW antenna is my main station antenna ,the best performing antenna for me.
I’m a huge fan of it myself.
I also have a dx5000 and find the antenna tuner in that performs surprisingly well. It will certainly tunes antennas that the 991A won't touch. If I wasn't so lazy I'd get the handbook out to see what the specs say about what it should tune, but it seems to do a lot better than 3:1...
The antenna tuner is officially rated for matching between 16-Ohms and 150-Ohms, which is 3:1 maximum. But you’re absolutely right! I’ve seen it match a bit beyond that. I think it depends upon other factors too; feedline, specific type of antenna, etc.
73, de N4HNH
I have the ZS and I love it. Thank you! 73
Just like the G5RV, there are numerous variations of the ZS6BKW, but I certainly like the performance of the one from NI4L.com.
73, de N4HNH
I have the same antenna as you ZS6BKW by NI4L and I agree it works great with great construction.
Chris builds to order and his workmanship is admirable. I hope he continues to offer these antennas for many more years.
73, de N4HNH
@@n4hnhradio His price is reasonable also!
I was going to build my own. I like making my own antennas. But when I looked into buying the quality of wire, ladder line, insulators and fasteners that Chris uses, I decided it makes more sense to buy his already made. Plus he has fine tuned from the original spec to an even more precise version.
73, de N4HNH
@@n4hnhradio I built my own including the ladder line. I won his from 100 watts and wire Fallout. His performs a little bit better than mine, so that's what Im using. I may modify mine for 160 meters.
Great idea. 160m. 73, de N4HNH
Nice.............
This premiers is kinda dumb cause we all take your headline and watch other peoples video on your good content. !!! I think it is a bad idea for your channel. Like it anyway based on title interest.
I’m not in competition with other channels. I’m just trying to serve the amateur radio community. If others have good videos on the same subject, that’s great. Maybe my channel won’t be needed.