2 Meter J-Pole vs 5/8 wave 2 Meter antenna

RC

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Sep 24, 2001, 6:19:31 PM9/24/01

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I am going be to installing a 2 meter base antenna, and I was
wondering which antenna performs better -- a 57" copper J-Pole or a
5/8 wave. I will be mounting the antenna in my attic.

Thanks,

Reggie

Dennis Kaylor

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Sep 24, 2001, 9:25:05 PM9/24/01

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hey reggie
i dont know if you want to build or buy but if its buy i have an ideal
antenna for you and you dont have to waste the time ands hassle of an
indoor antenna there are a couple stealth antennas one is a ventenna
and the other is a windvane below are links to the websites for them
check them out
good luck

http://www.garlic.com/~m4bz/ventham.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/AntVentures/baseants.html

AB2HR

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Sep 25, 2001, 10:05:26 AM9/25/01

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Reggie,
I don't have a valid comparison for you, as the 5/8 wave I've
used is on my car, and the copper J-Pole I built is mounted on a mast
at a friend's house on top of a 500 foot hill. Electrically, they're
pretty close to the same length. Suffice it to say that either one
would work fine - but I think the edge would go to the copper J-Pole.
Reason? Well, its got a larger diameter radiator, which will give you
a wider bandwidth on the antenna (making it capable of operating with
lower SWR over a greater frequency range). My friend WAS using a 1/4
wave ground plane and I could barely hear him from my house (I'm on
the backside of the hill, in a VERY bad position to hear him). When
he went to the J-Pole his signal went from S1 (right there with the
background noise) up to S5, using my Double Trombone vertical, and
when I swing the 11 element Yaqi his way, he's full scale on the
J-Pole and only S2-S3 with the 1/4. Just trying to show that the
J-Pole is a proven performer. I'm sure that you'll be happy with
either antenna.

Raymond Sirois AB2HR
SysOp: The Lost Chord BBS
607-733-5745
telnet:\\thelostchord.dns2go.com:6000

Joe Bramblett, KD5NRH

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Sep 25, 2001, 3:34:52 PM9/25/01

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On Tue, 25 Sep 2001 14:05:26 GMT, AB2HR <ab...@arrl.net> wrote:

<SNIP>

>but I think the edge would go to the copper J-Pole.
>Reason? Well, its got a larger diameter radiator, which will give you
>a wider bandwidth on the antenna (making it capable of operating with
>lower SWR over a greater frequency range).

Would you expect a JPole made from heavy-gauge wire to outperform a
1/4 wave groundplane (with a 3/32" dia brass radiator) as an indoor
antenna? I'm pondering setting up a couple, since the grounplane
sometimes gets in the way, and isn't quite portable enough to move
from room to room in a minute or less.

Joe Bramblett, KD5NRH

Dennis Kaylor

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Sep 25, 2001, 5:44:22 PM9/25/01

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hey joe
if you must have an indoor antenna make the Jpole out of 300 ohm twin lead
that you can get at radio shack they can be rolled up and easily carried
where ever you want them a Jpole will out perform a 1/4 wave any day
check the internet i know there are plans for the twin lead Jpole somewhere

Charles Johnston

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Sep 25, 2001, 5:48:33 PM9/25/01

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And if you don't feel like building / tuning MFJ sells a great 2M roll-up
J-Pole antenna for under $15.....I used on indoors for DX packet cluster
with an HTX-202 for several months and got great results.....

--

73 / DX

Charles T Johnston
cha...@ab7sl.com

AB7SL - Ham Radio Pages
100% Electronic QSL's
www.ab7sl.com

AB2HR

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Sep 26, 2001, 9:35:12 AM9/26/01

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I would definitely expect the J-Pole to be the better performer. It
is, in my opinion a better antenna all around. Definitely demands a
smaller "footprint" than a regular 1/4 wave vertical, no radials to
walk into and whatnot. Your only concern might be in finding a place
with enough headroom to set up the antenna. Whatever you do, try to
keep it away from metal objects

Bob Miller

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Sep 26, 2001, 10:05:18 AM9/26/01

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AB2HR <ab...@arrl.net> wrote:

>On Tue, 25 Sep 2001 14:34:52 -0500, "Joe Bramblett, KD5NRH"
><kd5...@kd5nrh.net> wrote:
>
>>On Tue, 25 Sep 2001 14:05:26 GMT, AB2HR <ab...@arrl.net> wrote:
>>
>><SNIP>
>>>but I think the edge would go to the copper J-Pole.
>>>Reason? Well, its got a larger diameter radiator, which will give you
>>>a wider bandwidth on the antenna (making it capable of operating with
>>>lower SWR over a greater frequency range).
>>
>>Would you expect a JPole made from heavy-gauge wire to outperform a
>>1/4 wave groundplane (with a 3/32" dia brass radiator) as an indoor
>>antenna? I'm pondering setting up a couple, since the grounplane
>>sometimes gets in the way, and isn't quite portable enough to move
>>from room to room in a minute or less.
>>
>>
>>Joe Bramblett, KD5NRH
>
>I would definitely expect the J-Pole to be the better performer. It
>is, in my opinion a better antenna all around. Definitely demands a
>smaller "footprint" than a regular 1/4 wave vertical, no radials to
>walk into and whatnot.

My arrl amateur handbook has a section on building a j-pole antenna. The guy who
wrote the section says that the j-pole definitely outperformed a 1/4 groundplane
on simplex. He compared the j-pole to a Ringo Ranger, as far as results go.

Bob
k5qwg

Lew

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Oct 8, 2001, 8:59:58 AM10/8/01

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I just made a 300 ohm twin lead J-Pole ant, have it on a closet wall, works
great. Tried a 5/8 wave in the atic and it did not work, ) A/C ducts caused
problems

Lew (N4HRA)
"Joe Bramblett, KD5NRH" <kd5...@kd5nrh.net> wrote in message
news:9FFD2A974A00B5C7.1F6FD22D...@lp.airnews.net...

Anthony Duffy

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Dec 18, 2001, 10:24:45 PM12/18/01

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Go with the J-Pole. Much better antenna then a 1/4 wave, no ground
radials etc.

I made on out of aluminum wire from RS and it works great in my
apartment. Even sitting next to the wall didn't "detune" it. If you make
one out of copper you could use it horizontally for SSB if you were so
inclined. (but remember that an antenna with more gain would be better
for SSB.

73
Tony
VA3-ATD