Dipole advice ??

[Ron]

Hi

Just about to make a dipole and have enough parts to make but only want to
climb once. 50 ft tower and lots of ladder line, coax, a 1:1 balun and lots
of copper wire and a nice manual tuner that has its own balun for hook up to
either the ladder line or coax.

Any idea which is best possible and practical application? Should I use the
ladder line or coax? Do I need the balun? I hope to use it for 10-160 as
this is what the rig is capable of.

Any advice or adeas or tricks of the trade are greatly appreciated, I hope
to only climb once, what works best?

thanks
Ron

[Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names]

Make the dipole 135 feet long. Feed in the center with the ladder
line -- each leg will be half of 135 feet.

Before you build the dipole, I recommend you get one of these:
http://www.palmettoantennas.com/wa1ffl-ladderloc-ladder-line-center-antenna-suppor1.html

The LadderLoc will ensure a good, solid connection between the ladder
line and the antenna wires.

This guy makes a very high-quality ladder line; his website has some
photos of installations:
http://www.trueladderline.com/

Here's a QST article. This guy used a 66-foot long dipole -- half of
the 1235 I recommend.
http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/pdf/9312070.pdf

Here's a good discussion of how to install the ladder line and bring
it into the house:
http://www.radiobanter.com/archive/index.php/t-139945.html

Check out this guy's photos, especially the one where he used a short
piece of PVC to space the ladder line away from a tower:
http://www.n4ekv.com/antennas.asp

DO NOT PUT A BALUN IN THE LINE.

Your tuner should have connectors at the rear where you tie the ladder
line. These are connected to the 4:1 balun inside the tuner and
that's all you need.

Some tuners have an internal jumper that needs to be removed for use
with ladder line -- check the instruction manual.