[BC] Skirt feeds.....

[Craig Healy]

> >  Last question...  If the skirt feed is brought out from the base and
then
> >  back in, would it increase the bandwidth?
>
>  Yes !
>  The military design you describe has a name, ( I forget ) but in that
case
>  the wires are bonded to the supporting structure both top and bottom,
>  and the whole thing is a series fed radiator, intended to effectively
>  increase the R/D significantly.
>  It works.
>
>  Other than me ( once upon a time ) I know of no one who tried it
>  as a skirt feed.
>  Worked "OK" but feed was complicated.
>  I wouldn't recommend it without modeling.

I do recall it being used as a skirt feed on this particular one.  It also
had a top load cap of maybe 10% of the tower height.  I have seen the type
where wires are sent up the sides to increase the effective width of the
tower.   That probably would work to repair any bad tower section
connections as well.  Maybe one of these days I'll make a 40m ham band scale
model to see what it does.  Been thinking about buying one of the Timewave
antenna analyzers.  That would make the testing a breeze.  That also works
through the AM band and would be a quick test to see if there is an antenna
problem at a station.

Craig Healy
Providence, RI