Antennas Frank Donovan, W3LPL

Antenna Secrets of the Top Multi-Op Stations Revealed ! How do the top multi-op stations break those huge pileups so fast? How do they consistently make 5000 to 8000 QSOs in one weekend ? Of course, they have great operators, full legal power, great locations, and they’re really serious competitors... But that’s not enough ! Its not even close... They all use stacked monoband Yagis at carefully chosen heights But the most competitive multi-ops do much more… The antenna secrets of the Top Multi-ops... And tips to apply to your own station!

Secret #1: Use All of the Right Angles Do your antennas cover all of these elevation angles? The top multi-ops cover them all (or almost all…) Europe Asia/Pacific 80M deg ( ft) deg ( ft) 40M deg ( ft) deg ( ft) 20M deg ( ft) deg ( ft) 15M deg ( ft) deg ( ft) 10M deg ( ft) deg ( ft)

Secret #1: Use All of the Right Angles Of course, its extremely difficult to cover all of the right angles So… Tip #1: Design your antennas for as many of the right angles as you can. A good compromise is: feet for Europe feet (plus) for Asia/Pacific

Secret #2: Eliminate Radiation Pattern Nulls Low antennas have clean radiation patterns - with no nulls - but poor low angle radiation

5 Element 20 Meter Yagi on 48 Foot Boom, 50 Feet High decibels degrees 50 FT 5 degrees Europe Poor low angle radiation 18 degrees No nulls...

5 Element 20 Meter Yagi on 48 Foot Boom, 50 Feet High decibels degrees 50 FT 4 degrees Asia/Pacific Poor low angle radiation 12 degrees No nulls...

Secret #2: Eliminate Radiation Pattern Nulls High antennas produce excellent low angle radiation but have deep nulls at very important elevation angles

5 Element 20 Meter Yagi on a 48 Foot Boom, 200 Feet High decibels degrees Deep null Europe 12 degrees 4 degrees Excellent low angle radiation

5 Element 20 Meter Yagi on a 48 Foot Boom, 200 Feet High decibels degrees Deep null Asia/Pacific 12 degrees 4 degrees Excellent low angle radiation

6 Element 15 Meter Yagi on a 48 Foot Boom, 200 Feet High decibels degrees Deep null Europe 15 degrees 4 degrees Excellent low angle radiation

6 Element 15 Meter Yagi on a 48 Foot Boom, 200 Feet High decibels degrees Deep null Asia/Pacific 10 degrees 3 degrees Excellent low angle radiation

7 Element 10 Meter Yagi on a 48 Foot Boom, 200 Feet High decibels degrees Deep null Europe 12 degrees 3 degrees Excellent low angle radiation

7 Element 10 Meter Yagi on a 48 Foot Boom, 200 Feet High decibels degrees Deep null Asia/Pacific 8 degrees 2 degrees Excellent low angle radiation

Secret #2: Eliminate Radiation Pattern Nulls Well designed stacked Yagis provide the best of both! - low angle radiation, and - null-free radiation patterns Tip #2: Use stacked Yagis to produce broad null-free patterns that cover the full range of needed elevation angles Stacked Yagis require a tower 70 to 100 feet tall

Two Stacked 5 Element 20 Meter Yagis on 48 Foot Booms, 50 and 100 Feet High decibels degrees BOTH 100’ 50 FT Europe 18 degrees 5 degrees

12 degrees Two Stacked 5 Element 20 Meter Yagis on 48 Foot Booms, 50 and 100 Feet High decibels degrees BOTH 100’ 50 FT Asia/Pacific 4 degrees

Two Stacked 6 Element 15 Meter Yagis on 48 Foot Booms, 47 and 94 Feet High decibels degrees BOTH 94 FT 47 FT Europe 15 degrees 4 degrees

Two Stacked 6 Element 15 Meter Yagis on 48 Foot Booms, 47 and 94 Feet High decibels degrees BOTH 94 FT 47 FT Asia/Pacific 10 degrees 3 degrees

Two Stacked 6 Element 10 Meter Yagis on 36 Foot Booms, 35 and 70 Feet High decibels degrees BOTH 70 FT 35 FT Europe 12 degrees 3 degrees

Two Stacked 6 Element 10 Meter Yagis on 36 Foot Booms, 35 and 70 Feet High decibels degrees BOTH 70 FT 35 FT Asia/Pacific 8 degrees 2 degrees

Two Stacked 3 Element 40 Meter Yagis on 48 Foot Booms, 100 and 200 Feet High decibels degrees BOTH 200’ 100 FT Europe 23 degrees 7 degrees

Two Stacked 3 Element 40 Meter Yagis on 48 Foot Booms, 100 and 200 Feet High decibels degrees BOTH 200’ 100 FT 16 degrees 5 degrees Asia/Pacific

Secret #3: Stacks for Europe and Asia are Different! Stacked Yagis that produce an optimum null-free higher angle radiation pattern for Europe… cannot produce the optimum lower angle pattern for Asia/Pacific Stacked Yagis that produce an optimum null-free low angle radiation pattern for Asia/Pacific... cannot produce the optimum higher angle pattern for Europe

Secret #3: Stacks for Europe and Asia are Different! The solution is: Tip #3: Use switchable stacks of three Yagis to select broad null-free radiation patterns for either Europe or Asia/Pacific

Three Stacked 5 Element 20 Meter Yagis on 48 Foot Booms; 50, 100, 150 Feet High decibels degrees 50 FT/100 FT 100 FT/150 FT Europe 18 degrees 5 degrees

Three Stacked 5 Element 20 Meter Yagis on 48 Foot Booms; 50, 100, 150 Feet High decibels degrees 50 FT/100 FT 100 FT/150 FT Asia/Pacific 12 degrees 4 degrees

Three Stacked 6 Element 15 Meter Yagis on 48 Foot Booms; 47, 94 and 140 Feet High decibels degrees Europe 15 degrees 4 degrees 47 FT/94 FT 94 FT/140 FT

Three Stacked 6 Element 15 Meter Yagis on 48 Foot Booms; 47, 94 and 140 Feet High decibels degrees 10 degrees 3 degrees 47 FT/94 FT 94 FT/140 FT Asia/Pacific

Three Stacked 6 Element 10 Meter Yagis on 36 Foot Booms; 35, 70 and 105 Feet High decibels degrees 12 degrees 3 degrees 35 FT/70 FT 70 FT/105 FT Europe

Three Stacked 6 Element 10 Meter Yagis on 36 Foot Booms; 35, 70 and 105 Feet High decibels degrees 8 degrees 2 degrees 35 FT/70 FT 70 FT/105 FT Asia/Pacific

Antenna Secrets of the Top Multi-Op Stations Revealed ! Secret #1: Use All of the Right Angles Secret #2: Eliminate Radiation Pattern Nulls Secret #3: Stacks for Europe and Asia are Different!

Tips to Apply to Your Own Station Tip #1: Design your antennas for as many of the right angles as you can. A good compromise is: feet for Europe feet (plus) for Asia/Pacific Tip #2: Use stacked Yagis to produce broad null-free patterns that cover the full range of needed elevation angles Stacked Yagis require a tower 70 to 100 feet tall Tip #3: Use switchable stacks of three Yagis to select broad null-free radiation patterns for either Europe or Asia/Pacific