160 METERS---10 METER; "KISS" All Band Antenna System

Submitted by K8KAS

I am submitting this short article to describe an ALL BAND 160M -- 10M Simple Antenna System using a 4BTV antenna and a couple of traps plus some wire that has worked extremely well for a number of Ham's locally over the last 10 years or so. This antenna was originally installed as a temporary system but has proven to work so well that in a number of Qth's it has been kept as the primary antenna.

The antenna will work with most rigs with an internal antenna tuner and on a number of bands without an antenna tuner. On 10/15/20/75 and 160 meters, NO antenna tuner is needed... On 60/30/17/12 meters the antenna functions as a random L type wire and will require a tuner.

The antenna being a 1/4 wave current antenna on most bands does require a good radial system to be effective. This is nothing new to those of us who have used current fed verticals in the past. We at WD8QKE's installation installed 20 radials at 30 ft. long spread out over 360 degrees. Checking the RF ground impedance with an antenna analyzer we found this to be a good number of radials for fairly low RF ground impedance.

The cost for this antenna is below $200 purchased new and is as well a very clean antenna with a small footprint for people in HOA developments.

RESULTS:

The antenna has worked very well compared to many other ham systems and has been the winner often in testing shoot outs. Many 1st call DX contacts have been made on all bands with 75 and 40 meters being it's best bands, however EZ contacts are the norm on the other bands as well.

I think you will enjoy this simple coax fed All Band System. Please let us know how yours works.

Thanks,

Denny Hilbert, K8KAS and Dave Hubbard, WD8QKE

K8KAS1@aol.com

Editor note: As with any antenna system, your installation may be different so check swr with and without the tuner on all bands..
Use the method that gives the best results with this antenna, the band and your installation.