The 80 meter Vertical Beam Antenna

The need for this antenna started when I put up a 629' beverage antenna and heard a lot of
European stations on my ham radio receiver. First I built just one vertical, trying to work Europe
on 3.790 mHz. The vertical worked well, so I decided to try two of them as a beam.

At the phasing box there is also a phasing line, a 73 degree length of coax. It is connected in
series with the coax from antennas 1 and 2. The relay switches the coax to the rig, both
shield and ground. It is used to select the junction of antenna 1 and the phasing line to
beam the antenna to the NE. When the junction of antenna 2 and the phasing line is selected,
the antenna beams to the SW.

Each antenna was tuned to 3.750 mHz with an MFJ antenna analyzer. I used 12 gauge black
plastic covered house wiring.

The pattern is very broad to the NE and SW, allowing pretty good coverage for all DX paths.
I knew it was working okay when I could copy Tunisia with it, but couldn't hear the signal
on my beverage antenna.

Figure 1, Drawing and description of the 80m beam antenna.

Figure 2, Elevation plot from EZNEC