The difference a doublet makes

I had the opportunity to chase a QRP SOTA station on 17 meters a few minutes ago. I thought I would let you hear what I heard. In this video you will see the difference between an OCF dipole, a ZS6BKW multi-band dipole, a Cushcraft R-5 vertical, and my doublet (250 feet of wire, fed in the middle with ladder (“window”) line. I’m using my Yaesu FTdx5000MP.

Technically, open-wire line is the wide-spaced type that many hams build themselves. It is commonly called ladder-line. The window line is still considered as ladder line, as it mimics open-wire line, with only a slight bit more loss. Still, it has significantly less loss than coax. Parallel wire feeders don’t lose as much power in the form of heat as does coaxial cable. Open-wire line is slightly more efficient than window line but less easy to deploy. Both have an efficiency of above 90%, with the open-wire line nearer to 100%. For the few percent of difference, I prefer working with the window line.

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73, de N4HNH