Kintronic A>M> antenna system

[oldiesstation]

http://www.kintronic.com/site/systems/kinstar.asp

anyone checked out this system or know where one is operational other than the experimental kintronic's has on site??I've done the John Mulanney(RIP) unipole system before and loved it.i know we have some great AM Eng's on this site.also wonder how the costs stacks up against the conventional antennas..

 

[OnTheAir123]

I know this does not answer your question but I LOVE the folded unipole antenna on AM. Sounds great, covers great, tunes up VERY well. Just put one up about 4 years ago. Here is where I got the last one I put up.

http://www.nottltd.com/antennasother.html

Of the stations I Engineer for, (2) of the AMs are running these antennas. Awesome!

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Amen on the Nott Ltd Unipoles. All of my non-da AM clients use them & there's simply nothing bad to say about them.

 

[K4WRF]

These kind of antennas are practical only in top end of the band about 1300kHz and up, even down that low might be questionable. As with any am antenna, you must still employ a full ninety degree counterpoise ground system. In the higher bands, you will need no fewer that five 65 foot treated utility poles and lower frequencies as many as nine. Unless you have a height restriction, Rohn 45G installed might be cheaper. The test was conducted at 1680 kHz and remember that the FCC minimum required antenna efficiency is 362 mv/m for class “A”, 282 mv/m for class “B” stations and 241 mv/m for class “C” stations. There have been no changes in these rules.

Folded uni-pole or skirt-wire “shunt” fed antennas have their advantages but watch out for “snake oil” here. It is only method of feeding the tower intended to replace the old “slant wire” shunt fed antennas that were considered directional by the FCC. Some of the claims are not based in science or fact. As an example, nothing will take the place of a properly installed counterpoise ground system and a tower of sufficient length. There is no getting around Maxwell’s discoveries and famous sets of equations relating to generating fields by passing a current through a wire.
w/

 

[BobDillehay]

I know this is off subject, but the mention of John Mulanney brings back a fond memory.

I was the CE for the Rounsaville stations in Jackonville in the late 70s. Elton B. Chick was the Director of Engineering.

John Mulanney was our consultant.

We were working on a five in line DA/N on 600khz. 1/4 wave spacing (410ft). The towers were 66 degrees (300ft) tall. VERY low drive points.

The RMS was 285.

We were all crowded in a dog house with a Delta OIB.

John turned to Elton and said the current was 21 amps and the Z was +/- zero. John asked Elton to calculate the power.

After a few key strokes on his calculator, Elton said it's zero power.

John said good, we don't need this tower. He was right. He produced a computer (HP-65) model that proved it.

The array was never redesigned, that tower is still standing.

Sorry about the off subject comment, but I couldn't resist.

Bob

 

[radionekkid]

I know this is off subject, but the mention of John Mulanney brings back a fond memory.

I was the CE for the Rounsaville stations in Jackonville in the late 70s. Elton B. Chick was the Director of Engineering.

John Mulanney was our consultant.

We were working on a five in line DA/N on 600khz. 1/4 wave spacing (410ft). The towers were 66 degrees (300ft) tall. VERY low drive points.

The RMS was 285.

We were all crowded in a dog house with a Delta OIB.

John turned to Elton and said the current was 21 amps and the Z was +/- zero. John asked Elton to calculate the power.

After a few key strokes on his calculator, Elton said it's zero power.

John said good, we don't need this tower. He was right. He produced a computer (HP-65) model that proved it.

The array was never redesigned, that tower is still standing.

Sorry about the off subject comment, but I couldn't resist.

Bob

There is one like that here with five in a row but 90 degree spaced. I like to say that of the five towers, it has 2 1/2 that have negative driving point impedance. Two of them are about 12 and 18 ohms negative and one of them (#1) drifts back and fourth accross the line. Never met John in person but had several phone conversations with him as well as a couple 20 meter QSO's way back. There is a six tower also here in town that is still working that he and Mr. Chick put up in the fifties, its was a work of art.


w/

 

[OnTheAir123]

>Folded uni-pole or skirt-wire “shunt” fed antennas have their advantages but watch out for “snake oil” >here. It is only method of feeding the tower intended to replace the old “slant wire” shunt fed antennas >that were considered directional by the FCC. Some of the claims are not based in science or fact. As an >example, nothing will take the place of a properly installed counterpoise ground system and a tower of >sufficient length. There is no getting around Maxwell’s discoveries and famous sets of equations relating >to generating fields by passing a current through a wire.

The Folded Unipole antennas I deal with are on 250' 55G towers with a full ground system, wire mesh around the base and full length radials. We had the tower climber move the shunt back to the tower and the ring up and down until it was almost matched without the new Harris 10KW matching network. We set it at 50 ohms and year after year it stays put. Best antenna setup available for ND AM in my opinion. Absolutely blows other AMs in the area with similar power away in signal strength and coverage area.

......but that's my opinion, free country, yours may differ.