RE: re: yaesu antenna

Susan:

  

Ron below reminded me of an excellent point that you may wish to consider,
particularly if you find that your frequency bands of primary interest
include some that are quite far apart.and that is to use 2 or more antennas
and switch between them.  That way, you can get an inexpensive wire antenna
(ideally a "multi-band" version) for the lower frequency bands 500 KHz - 20
MHz (you'll need some room and height for it, which may mean trees and a
big-enough residence lot), multi-band vertical/loop or rotatable yagi/loop
for 20 MHz - 50 MHz, and broadband discone or multi-band vertical or
multi-band rotatable yagi/loop (my personal preference) for 50 MHz - 1.3
GHz.  For convenience, you'll likely want an antenna switch that will allow
the one connection to your radio to be switched between all the antennas you
have (otherwise, you'll find yourself unscrewing and screwing antenna cables
from the back of the radio when you change bands that need that);
unfortunately, most of those switches are designed for coax cable only, but
there are a number of 2, 3, 4, 6 position switches on the market.

 

Ron's sloper antenna choice is a very good one for limited space vs decent
performance.  I personally prefer horizontally polarized loops for those
bands in order to minimize the local noise that comes from power lines,
homes, your own fluorescent light bulbs and computers, etc (even tho I live
in a "rural" area here), that can obscure weak stations you wish to receive
in the HF bands.  Examps of good multi-band loops include the Super Delta
Loop from Radio Works, which reduces noise dramatically compared to my
Alpha-Delta multi-band dipole and Hygain multi-band vertical, but it is also
bi-directional pattern (BTW, you can easily build such a loop yourself with
simple tools, and then just buy the balun to go with it; let me know if you
want the "recipe" for that).  Another one of my favorites is the modified
Windom, such as the Carolina Windom from Radio Works; it requires 2 baluns
thus more expensive but has an omni-pattern on many bands with gain that is
roughly equivalent to the multi-band delta loops.  Overload may be an issue,
as Ron implies below, with these sensitive wire antenna designs, which can
be cured using an antenna tuner and attenuator for "out of band"
interference, and a sharp "pre-selector" for in-band interference.

 

Another option you may wish to consider for a single antenna that covers
many bands, if you're constrained on space, is the Maldol (Comet) HVU-8 or
Comet CHA-250B.  I have the HVU-8 that I take back-packing & camping, and it
does a fair job for 3.5MHz - 440MHz.  Sensitivity/gain is a yawner, but you
just can't expect much from a really wide frequency coverage antenna and yet
this is one of the best ones
(http://www.cometantenna.com/products.php?CatID=1
<http://www.cometantenna.com/products.php?CatID=1&famID=5&childID=6>
&famID=5&childID=6)

 

Cheers,
Stephen W9SK

 

  _____  

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of Ron
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 9:32 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [YaesuVR-5000] re: yaesu antenna

 

  

Hi All,

Unfortunately the VR-5000 does not have multiple antenna input 
connectors, but an inexpensive two position antenna switch can be used 
to switch between antennas. For HF up to around 25 MHz I use an Alpha 
Delta Sloper which provides excellent reception, and sometimes almost 
too much signal for the VR-5000.

http://www.alphadeltacom.com/pg7.html

From 25 to 1300 MHz I use a discone type antenna like the Diamond D-130 
which can be purchased almost anywhere in the world. I have found this 
to be the best simple antenna for this frequency range.

My 2 cents. -73-

Ron WB9BDZ

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