Have you ever tried to build a fan dipole? I’ve had one up for more than a year, which utilizes two bands — 40 meter and 80 meter. Will the fan dipole tune up properly using two different bands?

The answer is… it works quite well. I used 12 gauge solid copper wire. For the 40 meter band, I cut 33 feet for each leg, and this was resonant on 7.150 MHz. For the 80 meter band, I cut 63 feet for each leg, and this was resonant on 3.750 MHz. I do use the internal tuner when transmitting on the 75/80 meter band, since it is a very wide band. I also use the tuner occasionally on the 40 meter band to get a perfect 1:1 SWR.

Actually, I previously ran a 40 meter half-wave dipole and I wanted to put up an 80 meter dipole. So, I thought that I would try a fan dipole and make use of both bands on the same antenna system. It was a success!

I used the same center insulator to connect both sets of wires and I used the same coax to feed both antennas, so this prevented me from buying another coax and another center insulator. My only question was this. How will my HF transceiver know which band I am talking on? The tranceiver will recognize either band you are on, because it will follow the path of least resistance. You can flip back between both bands with ease.

I have an internal tuner on my rig and it has memory, so I don’t have to tune every time I change bands, which is very handy. This setup works very well for the fan dipole. If one doesn’t have a tuner, one could cut the wire precisely for the desired frequency, if this is the main frequency to transmit.

I believe at least a 45 degree angle of separation is recommended for two wire antennas. My antenna setup is fairly perpendicular, well almost.

Since the 60 meter band became more fashionable after the FCC made changes recently, I thought I would incorporate a third antenna on my fan dipole. It worked like a charm, until some very high winds came along one day and snapped one of the 80 meter band wires. I think that the weight of the three antennas was just too much.

Unless you stack the wire in a very study manner, I would not recommend using a three band antenna system, because the weight is just too much and the chance of repairs is much greater. I suggest using only two bands, and in my case I chose the 40 meter and 80 meter bands.

I really do like the fan dipole and I highly recommend it.

What is your latest antenna project?