As the nights close in and the weather changes away from that of the type favoured for antenna building in the northern hemisphere, The drills, cutters and aluminium are begin purchased south of the equator ready for the coming sun!
Already early reports include those from ZS6NK on his newly constructed 9 element 70MHz LFA.
The Analyser at ZS6NK
Also this year hams have adopted the G0KSC Antenna Balun, a 1/4w stub tube connected at the feedpoint at one end and the boom at the other. This balun method removes many restrictions normally associated with baluns such as power restrictions and large losses associated with toroid transformer types.
A G0KSC Antenna Balun installed at G3WOS
One 'nice to see' is the take up across the pond of the G0KSC LFA, particularly within the 70cms band. Two such early adopters are W4TMX and WB9WOZ both having enjoyed the ground-breaking performance provided by the 70cms LFA and confirmed by Mitsubishi Development both in software form (Ansoft HFSS) and at the Northwestern University Antenna Range in the United States of America. Doubters, The World is round and we don't burn witches anymore !!
The W4TMX 28el 70cms LFA Yagi
WB9WOZ built this 18el 70cms LFA
However, this North American take up of the G0KSC way is not limited to 70cms, the second area of impact is 6m followed closely by 2m. N6SS built the 8el 50MHz LFA below along with the first of four 9el 50MHz LFAs at WA4NJP which are going to be used for moon bounce.
The N6SS 8el 50MHz LFA installed at 100'
a 9el 6m LFA at WA4NJP - 1 of four being built for EME
The LFA does not remain hard to beat, it is still unbeatable and with the new range I have ready to release showing huge advantages in performance over existing versions, it looks like it will remain that way for a long time yet!
Finally, some of the biggest G0KSC antennas installed this year were not home brew, they were supplied by Force12 inc of Texas USA . Both KK5O and VE1JF purchased their 17.9m long 11 element 50MHz OWL (Optimised Wideband Arrays) and have them installed. Performance of these antennas are also up there with the best of the best providing massive gain, F/B and excellent SWR coverage of the 6m DX portion.
The 17.9m long VE1JF OWL with Sea View
The 11el KK5O 50MHz OWL looks like a 2m Yagi rather than one for 6m!
Remember, the antenna is the most important part of your station, don't short cut here and make your choice wisely !
Justin G0KSC