I use spools and wind about 10 turns one way, and then alternate 10 turns the opposite way, etc., when winding up the wire. It is VERY important to unroll the spools with the spool rotating, so the wire comes straight off the groove in the spool, NOT off either side!
DO NOT let the wire peel off either side of the spool, or it will be twisted severely.
When I first started activating, I used a dipole and feedline, similar to the photo posted above. The results were:
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I made many contacts on the main band.
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It was very hard to set up all three wires in the wind.
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I made few contacts on other possible bands due to severe loss in the feedline, even though I used a good tuner.
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I had three pieces of tangled wire to contend with on steep, rocky, windy, difficult summits, making it hard to set up and put away the antenna.
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I had to set up the antenna with the pole in the middle, which often was not the best place for me to operate or be comfortable.
Once I started using an end-fed antenna, inverted-L, all of the above problems were solved or improved.
I developed efficient tuners and found joy in being able to operate on many bands and to jump between bands. My set-ups were much easier. I only have to handle ONE wire now. I use #24 teflon wire, and it has proved to be both efficient (silver-plated) and durable.
Best of all, there’s no feedline, except for a 0.6M piece from rig to tuner. SOTA doesn’t give points for feedline or for carrying extra weight!
I have many loyal chasers, because I regularly operate on several bands, and from Colorado, this makes a huge difference to the chasers who are at many locations, near and far. Because most of my RF power is actually radiated, my chasers often can copy my signals on one or more bands!
Please look at my RBN spots posted now - this is with 10W and a 20M (67 feet) wire on a pole 6M up at the corner of the inverted L. Feed is at bottom of pole. Usually there’s no counterpoise used for 40-30-20-17-15M. The rig and the operator are enough!
73
George
KX0R