Antenna?

[AnalogRules]

I would like to know if any of you have tried a 1/4 wave ground plane to a dipole and if you found there to be enough differance to go the ground plane route?
Thank you

Gary 97.1 fm

[rigrunner]

Gary,
The dipole antenna will do a better job than the whip that comes with the case set. But the ground plane antenna will smoke the dipole!! (Not Literally)
A good antenna will get the most out of your micro-power transmitter.

[DigitalJunkie]

I could never get any of my home-brew dipoles to perform very well,I think I made 3 of them,and trimmed,tweaked,etc. and just had poor results,so I whipped up a 1/4 wave on a panel mount connector,with some 10AWG copper wire.It works great! I think part of the problem with my dipole experiments was the feedpoint impedance.(I wasn't using a Balun with it.) With a properly tuned 1/4 wave it's right at 50ohms.(nice and easy for an antenna n00b like me.)I just bent the ground radials down to about 45 degrees,while watching the SWR.I got it down to about 1.2 or better,and get great range!
I can't wait to try an antenna with some gain!

[AnalogRules]

Thanks guys for the help. Time to make a trip to the hardware store.

[scotch]

Go with the quarterwave ground plane and bend the radials down to about 45 degrees. And most of all , HIGHT IS EVERYTHING !

[ryan_ctXhc]

good to see another drummer in the forum. i dont know how i do it, but with tests ive done, a properly tuned dipole has always worked better for me than a 1/4~ gp. i always make a coax loop and secure it like that with twist ties near the feedpoint to keep coax radiation down.

if you have the tower/tree space you could always phase 2 dipoles stacked and blow both ideas outta the water

[AnalogRules]

Well thanks for all the sugestions guys but I decided to get this.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...&category=4672

After looking at the hardware store and radio shack I decided with what I was going to end up spending on parts and connectors, And still not be happy with the construction of what i was going to have I could just get one of these and cut it down to the correct size.
It should be here in a couple of days.
Im only going to be able to get it up to about 26 feet in the air.
So buy the weekend I should have a report on how it does.
You might know that the one direction I want it to work best is a nightmare for power lines that line my property and the terrain is terible.

Its always something.

[scotch]

That's a nice looking ground plane. It should work nicely once you cut it to size.

And yes, stacked dipoles would make a killer omni set up ! Someday I would like to try a 4 bay configuration.

[DigitalJunkie]

Humm.. I built my 1/4 wave for like $10,including 20feet of RG-8.I just got the coax,and the SO239 connector at Radioshack.I already had some 10AWG solid copper wire around,so the rest was just measuring,cutting,and soldering.. only took me a half an hour.

[ryan_ctXhc]

i built all my fm GP's with straightened brass coathangers