Comments (2)

By John AE5X, November 28, 2011

I hope this posting doesn’t get misconstrued as a “dipole vs. Moxon shootout” – it is anything but that, for a variety of reasons. Two of those reasons are (1) that the two antennas are at different heights and (2) that I don’t know where the main lobes are on an 80m dipole operating on 15 meters.

What I do know is that the dipole has no main lobe from its ends and it is for those directions (north and south) that I built and installed the Moxon. The dipole is my main antenna and is fed with 450-ohm ladder line for use on all bands 10-80 meters.

This past weekend’s CQWW contest was used to make comparisons on 15 meters between the Moxon at 35 feet and the 80m dipole at twice that height. The worldwide activity allowed me to compress into a weekend numerous A/B tests that would have otherwise taken weeks for a good global sampling. Continue reading '15m Moxon and CQWW'»

Comments (6)

By John AE5X, November 20, 2011

My 15m Moxon is completely assembled and on the ground awaiting passage of storms predicted for Tuesday before being installed on my chimney mount. The whole thing weighs just under 9 pounds and this weekend’s CQWW will be the test/comparison for this antenna – if it makes a real-world difference over my dipole, I’ll start looking at more permanent construction & installation ideas.

The plan is to make numerous A/B tests while on 15m, taking notes on S-meter readings and making audio files periodically. My particular interest is in the null directions of the dipole, ie north and south. Results of the comparisons will be posted here a few days after the contest.

As I ponder future tower ideas (crank-up, free-standing, tubular, foldover, etc), I came across this Continue reading 'Moxon progress…and a unique 50-foot tower'»