The Bent Dipole or Inverted "U" antenna. Post #223
Have you ever wanted to erect a full half wave dipole antenna for your favorite amateur radio band, but just didn't have enough horizontal space to put the antenna? This could be a problem for 80 and 40 meter dipoles, which can stretch out to 135 feet/41.15 meters (80 meters) and to 67 feet/20.42 meters (40 meters). According to an article by Claude Jollet (VE2DPE), most of the rf radiated and received by a dipole is concentrated "in the middle 60% or so of the antenna...the ends can be dropped down from the horizontal without much adverse effect." That was great news to me, since my back yard has a maximum length of 50 feet/15.24 meters bordering the rear of my house. So, if I bent the horizontal dipole at the 60% part of the flat top and let the remaining length hang down well above ground, I should still retain most of the dipoles good qualities. I decided to erect a quickly built bent or inverted "U" dipole to see what results I could get. MATERIA