I can see how it does.
Actually I am trying to solve a problem with mine SH. I am not getting the performance with mine that I think I should. I'm not sure what I'm basing that on except my expectations. Expectations too high?
Difficulty making contacts on several bands etc. Have no trouble receiving. Tuner tunes all bands, SWR acceptable.
I paid a lot of attention to detail during my build so I hope I didn't miss anything. Ladder line is 17 feet. Long wire is 92 feet. I did wonder about this though. This say http://www.hamuniverse.com/randomwireantennalengths.html 92 feet is a multiple to avoid. Could this be an issue.
Thoughts?
FF
I've got a couple thoughts on the matter that I think will add reasons to remain optimistic.
While the link you refer to may be correct to tell you to shy away from 92 feet, keep in mind that the total radiating length includes the 17 feet of ladder line. The second wire in the ladder line serves the role that the separate 17 foot wire (or in my case two of them) play in my wire only version of the design (which is how they were originally made).
I would highly recommend logging all of your activity, including times and signal reports, etc., as that will teach you invaluable knowledge. I'll share a few of my observations about the different bands which should help you to figure out some of the difficulty you may be having.
For starters, these antennas are great for 80 and 40m but with a small caveat. The length of the wire really helps with RX and TX in a manner that few shorter, compromise antennas can, but given the catch is that very few of us can get our wires high enough to afford us a low angle of radiation, turning it into a semi-NVIS antenna. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because during the day absorbsion in the ionosphere limits those bands to within several hundred miles. Those bands are quieter in the wintertime and at night, and will even get further distance at those times, but you shouldn't expect DX, even if that fellow with the Yagi on a seventy foot tower near Milan keeps booming through. You might also hear a bunch of distant stations with amplifiers that are hard to talk to, but I wouldn't let that trouble you.
The good thing about the 80 and 40 meter bands with a W3EDP antenna is that you'll be able to consistently talk to people within several hundred miles either during the daytime or night, which makes it an excellent band for EMCOMM or prepper purposes. I would recommend researching the times and frequencies for several local nets, probably ARES groups, SATERN, etc., and then try checking into them regularly. People on those nets will be more than happy to give signal reports, and if some people can't hear you well, others probably can, which will give you hints as to how the antenna operates.
Moving up to 20m you'll be limited to daytime use, and will get best DX results with areas that are still in sunlight when you call. Add in the approximately 500 mile radius skip zone around you and it should be self-explanatory that most nets will consist of a good proportion of stations not being able hear each other, but that by working as relays most people could get through. I would highly recommend listening to the 14.300 Intercon and Maritime Mobile Service Nets over several hours with the radio on in the background. Sometimes the NCS will boom in, while others (and they're located all over the US and Canada) will be inaudible.
Over here, I find that 20m works pretty good across N. America outside of my skip zone throughout the day, and that I could sometimes get DX with Europe from mid morning to early afternoon, depending upon whether or not the sun is still up in Europe. I would recommend researching several nets and trying to contact them at different times. For the most part, you probably won't touch 20m during the nighttime. Keep in mind that a 20 foot height isn't ideal for 20m (33 feet would be ideal) but the bandwidth is short enough to allow significant skip and distances (whether across the US or DX) so you'll probably still find it useful. For EMCOMM purposes, 20m can still play a role, but to use Katrina as an example, you might have had stations up around where you are relaying information down to hams in the regions that were hit (Carl might have some more info on this).
I get a fair bit of use on my antenna on 17 and to a lesser extent 15m, but keep in mind that they are essentially daytime bands (for both stations). On 17 I can often hear only one of two stations during a chat between them, but frequently can connect and comfortably hold a lengthy conversation with the other station. I find that I'm quite regularly talking in the afternoon from here (in Ontario) with stations in the US NW to SW. I find 15m to be a bit more temperamental, though as with 17 I can get a fair bit of DX from Europe if I time it right (keeping in mind the season).
On 10m, the band can be good for local SSB or FM nets that usually cover an area slightly larger than one might usually cover on VHF/UHF with a repeater, and that's at both daytime and during the night. For lengthier contacts, it's essentially a daytime band at both locations (sometimes in the winter it gives about two or three hours of excellent DX to Europe from about 10am to maybe 1pm. Because the skip over such distances can be quite variable and often the reliance on band openings, the band is essentially a short range EMCOMM option or great to DX for fun, though I wouldn't expect to consistently hit someone in Europe from one day to the next. Again, I would highly recommend researching your local nets and giving them a try. 12m is naturally similar, but I spend much less time there given the much smaller range of frequencies.
I haven't played much with 6m as one of my radios only goes up to 10m, but it might be worth checking into whether there's any local SSB or FM nets around you, and it can have some openings. but that's really on my to do list.
As you might imagine from the above, when I first got into the hobby and started randomly surfing through the bands, things sounded painfully quiet when I'd scan a band like 10m at night when it was essentially dead, or 40 or 80m during the daytime without knowledge of local nets, and sometimes at first got frustrated when I heard stations across the bands with amplifiers talking from afar as if only to tease me. After some practice and keeping track of my contacts however, I've discovered that I can check into all sorts of nets on different bands at the appropriate times and maximize DXing for fun by choosing the times that I search for them according to what works in my area.
If everything is tuning properly, I'd play around with the antenna at different times over the next few weeks and try checking into the local or regional nets that you should be able to uncover with one or two Google searches. Also keep in mind that propagation has its highs and lows (you can check any of several sites to get a prediction for your area based on the solar weather on a given day), so it will take a bit of practice to determine whether or not your success or failure with checking into a net is simply a consequence of unusual conditions on a given day.
Keep in mind that the wintertime is generally better for a bunch of bands (less noise on 40 and 80, and I seem to get more DX on the higher bands at this time of the year, so that's variable). It should be self evident by all of this that the unlicensed prepper who pulls his new radio out of it's foil wrapper/Faraday cage after an emergency will wish that he or she had worked with it sooner.
