Ham Radio QSO Parties

This is the first comparison done against our baseline 40 meter inverted V at 26 feet outlined here. The only parameter changed was increasing the height of the apex from 26 feet to 50 feet above ground level.

It will be evident antenna height has a profound influence on performance.

The EZNEC antenna view…

Below is the broadside antenna pattern in black compared with the same pattern of the 26 foot Inverted V in blue. The green lines reveal the 47 degree angle of maximum field strength of about 5dBi, a good 4 dB stronger than the baseline antenna. Gain straight up is about 3.8dBi and only about 1dB different from baseline.

As antennas rise they begin to favor low angles and this configuration is no exception. You can see the energy overall is higher, but more of it is going to the sides than up.

Here is another elevation plot, but as viewed inline with the antenna wire. Straight up is about 4dBi. The gains between the 50 foot and the 26 foot baseline differ by about 1dB which, alone, is a negligible benefit.

So what might we conclude about this inverted V antenna 50 feet high?

• Performance is slightly to significantly better than the same antenna at 26 feet height.
• The broadside radiation at 45-60 degrees is about 3db to 5db stronger than the baseline; That’s less than one S unit, but during a competition like a QSO Party that will make it that much easier to bust a pileup.
• The antenna is somewhat directional at angles lower than 60 degrees or so. The difference is about 4-6 db at the lower angles which suggest if you raise this antenna try to aim the broadside towards where you think the most operators are within 500 miles or so.

This is a good show for this antenna configuration. One to the next antenna simulation…