[WARC] The Field Day Fritzel

[jarvis at jarviscomputer.com]

Dick,

Nice job researching this.  I now know that I have the newer series with
auto-transformer and balun combination.

Thanks again for the background.

Clare



> 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
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