Extending the range of a Discone antenna down to 3.6 MHz

[vk3alb]

Thank you both. An excellent experiment.

[ON5HB]

Did you try to transform the 50 Ohm Discone antenna to a higher impedance?

The Hi-Z isn't 50 Ohm but 1000 Ohm, the voltage/amp levels going into the Hi-Z should be more suitable for it.

I do not know what the impedance is outside it's design frequencies but it may be worth trying to calculate it and make a transformer.

[glovisol]

Hi Bas, there is a TOTAL MISUNDERSTANDING which I perceive from your questions!!! How could you think I would connect a 50 Ohm downlead to a HI Z 1 Kohm input with no matching?

Please look at the posted photos (even those posted before): I have always connected and tested the Discone antenna (50 Ohm) connected to the 50 Ohm coaxial input of the RSPduo using a 50 to 50 Ohm (1:1) toroid transformer. Up to now I have NEVER connected the 50 Ohm Discone coaxial output cable to the balanced HI Z 1 KOhm input of the RSPduo. I will try this connection later on.

In all the tests I have used the 135 m Beverage antenna connected to the balanced HI Z input and the Discone antenna to the 50 Ohm coaxial input.

I take this opportunity to upload PC screens of Discone & Beverage @ 3.6 MHz

Best regards,

glovisol

[ON5HB]

Thanks a lot for making it clear, I was totally confused and puzzled.

Now it makes perfect sense.

[JMG]

@glovisol
The discone itself NEVER will receice any reasonable signal at low frequencies! It is much to small compared to the wavelength.

[glovisol]

BUILDING A STABLE 1:1 LOW CAPACITANCE TRANSFORMER - 1

The low capacitance transformer needs a stable configuration. I decided to build a suitable housing which keeps input & output common terminals insulated from each other. Here below the building sequence. I used a thick walled PVC pipe.

[glovisol]

BUILDING A STABLE 1:1 LOW CAPACITANCE TRANSFORMER - 2

I have provided a proper housing for the 50-to-50 Ohm low capacitance transformer and for the 550-to-1 Kohm low capacitance transformer as well.

[sdrom33]

JMG it seems the discone is working well to me!

[glovisol]

The 20 m band really opened up today, to make me appreciate my new Discone antenna!

Hi JMG, could it be the trapped whip on top to work so well?

[ON5HB]

I found this bit of information and they state:

Additional vertical element on discone

Often discones will be seen with an additional vertical element attached to the top of the antenna. This is often the case when they are used as a scanner antenna.

This additional vertical element on the discone helps to extend the lower frequency response for the overall antenna, giving improved performance at lower frequencies.

The downside to the addition of the vertical element is that it can reduce the efficiency at higher frequencies.

Here is the link: https://www.electronics-notes.com/artic ... basics.php