Greyline Upgrades · Feedline
Eleven Feet of Ladder Line, for an Eight-Foot Lower Element.
If you install the 4' Extension below the feedpoint — between the ground sleeve and the lower insulator — the lower half of your dipole becomes eight feet, the feedpoint rises four feet, and the ladder line that came in your feedline kit is now too short to reach the adapter with the slack it needs. This is the replacement: an 11-foot length of the same 450-ohm window line, ready to land on the two feedpoint terminals and run straight down to your ladder-line-to-PL-259 adapter.
In the Bag
One 11-foot length of 450-ohm ladder line, and three stand-off spacers. An 11-foot run wants six spacers to hold the line clear of the pole; your original feedline kit came with three, so these make six.
Why eight feet below the feedpoint? The whole antenna rises off the earth, which the low bands like — a vertical close to the ground works against its own reflection in the soil, the "image" antenna Kraus and Zavrel describe — and your upper radiator stays exactly as long as you built it. A 33 up with 8 down is 41 feet of antenna from a 33-foot footprint. The extension, both positions →
Install Notes
One wire to each feedpoint terminal; either way round is fine, but the longer (upper) element should end up on the coax center conductor — check with an ohmmeter, swap the leads at the adapter if not. Keep the line off the ground and a few inches clear of the pole and any metal with the six spacers; the ladder line is part of the antenna. All five ferrites go on the coax pushed up against the adapter connector. The first tune-up, six checks →
Ordering the 4' Extension at the same time? Put "below the feedpoint" in the order notes and this piece ships in the same box.
Questions? Call 435-200-4902. Ham Radio is fun again! Pass it on… 73, Jon KL2A