[WARC] The Field Day Fritzel

[Dick Lindner]

Field Day 2007 was a real eye-opener...Clare and Terry had erected a 
couple lengths of tower and hanging from the top was the center of a 
wire antenna.  Stepping inside the plush operating vehicle - a far cry 
from the tents of yore - 20 meters was wild, but there was NO NOISE.  I 
said something like, "This from a wire?". 

Indeed.  A wire.  A Fritzel antenna - off-center fed, 6:1 balun, coax 
feedline.  A what?

Check the following:  http://www.xs4all.nl/~pa0fri/Ant/FD4/fd4eng.htm 
<http://www.xs4all.nl/%7Epa0fri/Ant/FD4/fd4eng.htm>

Clare has apparently used it for some time and we could clearly (pun 
intended) understand why.  He thought that there was only an 80/40/20/10 
m version - The FD4, but in fact, it turns out there is also an FD3 
40/20/15 m.  And, there are ways to make other modifications. 
(translation=other bands)

So this note is really a follow-up to Matt's article on inexpensive 
antennas.  This could be done inexpensively - a 6:1 balun is available 
for about $29 + shipping.  Or you can buy a kit and wind your own for 
about $19 +.  I can provide the info if anyone is interested.

The one little piece of information that jumped out at me was that this 
design is very old - dating from the 1960's in Germany - and that the 
6:1 was used because the impedance at the center was about 370 ohms 
divided by 6 = 62 ohms - and most Europeans were using 60 ohm coax!  I 
never knew that.  So actually, a 7:1 balun would be better (closer to 52 
ohms).

So you see, sometimes older is better.  (Trust me, this is really better!)

Now, lets go to work on next year's Field Day!  Dick  W0RIF