Upgrade in Progress

 

I am currently working on the biggest and final expansion of my station. This upgrade includes four large Yagi antennas which together will deliver a huge performance boost.

The 20m OP-DES Yagi has 5 elements on a 9.3 m boom. It provides a forward gain of over 9 dBi and a front-to-back ratio of around 20 to 25 dB. The SWR remains below 1.5:1 across the entire 20m band, often even below 1.1 over a large part of the band.

 

On 15m I am using a 5 element OWA Yagi. This wideband design delivers about 8.2 dBi of forward gain with a front-to-back ratio of around 20 to 25 dB. The SWR is flat and typically stays below 1.2 across the whole band.

 

The 10m OWA Yagi has 6 elements on a 10.6 m boom based on the G0KSC design. It provides about 11.5 dBi of forward gain, a front-to-back ratio of around 20 dB, and an SWR below 1.1 across almost the entire 10m band.

 

On 6m I use a 7 element OWA Yagi which provides high forward gain and a flat SWR across the full 50 MHz band. With its broad coverage this antenna is well suited for both DX and contest use.

 

Since these antennas place heavy demands on the construction, my current focus is on preparing and reinforcing the tower. I have built a tiltplate, installed an additional electric winch, and purchased a Yaesu G-2800 rotator to safely and reliably turn this heavy combination.

 

In addition to the Yagis the mast will also hold a dipole for 40m and 30m.

On 40m this dipole complements my existing 4-square array, as both antennas provide different radiation patterns that supplement each other.

On 30m the dipole complements my existing 30m vertical, again because the radiation patterns differ and provide additional operating flexibility.

 

The project is still under construction. Step by step I document the progress with measurements, photos, and practical experiences, which I will share

it in the subpage