Should I go for an 80m antenna? If so, when?

 When I started off in amateur radio in 1985, Solar Cycle 21 was nearing its end with sunspot activity going down. Solar Cycle 22 started in September 1986. So I had the opportunity to witness propagation on 40m band going down and that on 80m becoming better. In those days, I had no option for higher bands as my Philips Prestige home radio which I used for RX did not cover them. I was unaware of regional activity on 160m and I do not remember whether my radio had covered that band. I still remember the EC Net also known as East Coast Net on 80m at 10 pm, to which I used to check in, mostly on CW as my homebrew radio, 3 x 807 vacuum tube radio, was not that great on AM for 80m.


Now we are in Solar Cycle 25, which started in December 2019 and we are headed for the maximum sunspot activity soon. When we pass that maximum, we will see higher bands going down and lower bands picking up. In the beginning of 2024, my favourite DX band was 10m, due to high sunspot activity. As we go beyond the maximum of Solar Cycle 25, we will see 10m band probably closing and I expect 80m to pick up instead. So I should be ready to make use of the booming propagation and activity on 80m by that time. During Solar Cycle 22, I had no difficulty in putting up a horizontal dipole for 80m as my parents' home had plenty of space and tall coconut trees to hold the antenna. What was lacking was a commercial SSB radio. Fast forwarding to Solar Cycle 25, I have a commercial SSB radio, but no space for even a 40m horizontal dipole. I am pulling on with a 40m inverted V.

Then what are my options for 80m? I have two options in mind. I should go for either a loaded coil dipole or a linear loaded dipole. Both are compromise antennas with their on limitations. Otherwise I should get an external antenna tuner with high SWR range from say 10 to 1 and drive my existing antenna on 80m as well. That being a much more costly option, I will be inclined to go for the former options. Still another option is to learn to homebrew a good antenna tuner. But that will be a very steep learning curve as I have never ventured into it. There is one ham in my region who started off in ham radio almost at the time I started, who has homebrewed such an antenna tuner with great performance.

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