I'm vertical bound at my home qth also as well as in a restricted neighborhood.
I installed a 29' home brew self supporting vertical on one of my fence posts. I then ran two elevated radials along the fence at 90 degrees, one to the north and one to the east. Both are about 30' long. I use an SGC-239 auto tuner 200 watt model (installed in a water proof fiberglass box) at the base of the antenna and it works just great. I use it mainly for the WARC bands. The only bands I have trouble with are 10 and 80 meters. I think the antenna is a little long on 10 meters and on 80 I get rf in the shack. I'm guessing that the coax is probably acting as part of the antenna. I will probably install a feed line current choke near the antenna. In my situation I think a vertical works well because of my ground conductivity here in Amarillo. According to the FCC chart my ground conductivity is 30 millimhos per meter which is the best you can do other than salt water. See http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/m3/ When things are tough or I'm trying to work a new country I connect to my remote hf system that has full size wires and a tribander. So if a vertical is the only way to go, put up a piece of aluminum and attach at least one radial/counter poise and get after it. Mine as well keep it simple. Rich - N5ZC ---- "Darwin wrote: > Hey Fred, > > Verticals - it's all I run. I've played with them and researched them > off and on for several years. I'm no expert but here is a quick summary > of what I've learned. > > Vertical efficiency depends on ground conduction in two fields. Near > field (which can be enhanced by radials) and far field (out of your > control). Radiation patterns are greatly affected by ground conduction > in the far field so don't expect yagi-crushing performance from a > vertical unless you're surrounded by salt water. The near field you > have some control over. The better job you do of screening the ground > at the base of the antenna, the higher the efficiency and the more of > your signal gets radiated. A minimum ground system is something like 16 > radials, .15 wave long. Better performance can be achieved with 104 > radials, 0.5 wave long. > > But that's all theory, what about practice? > > If you have a way to support a horizontal antenna 1/2 wave in the air, > it's a better way to go. I don't so I'm "vertical bound". > > Cushcraft R6000 and HyGain AV640 have received good reviews from folks. > Cushcraft MA5V is not a good antenna due to very narrow bandwidth (I had > one - never again). I've heard good and bad reviews of the GAP > antennas. Some love them, others say it performs poorly on all bands. > Force 12 look interesting but IIRC have a requirement of keeping the > feedline at a right angle for some distance. I may be wrong on this so > check it out. > > I have yet to see a good head-to-head of various verticals. My theory > is that most of the commercial antennas perform about the same provided > you give an adequate radial field to those that need it. > > Butternut is a tried & true antenna. Hustler 4BTV or 5BTV is very > inexpensive and works just fine, thank you. Both of these require > radials & neither covers all the WARC bands. > > If you want to use only a few radials, elevate them. Eight raised > radials can equal 60 or more buried radials. > > If I were in your shoes (I'm close), I'd go with R6000 or AV640 and > would try to mount them as high as possible. > > The best thing you can do to your antenna is to put RF into it. You'll > make lots more contacts on a middle-of-the-road antenna that regularly > sees RF than on a top-notch radiator that sits idle. And yes, you can > make lots of contacts and have lots of fun on a mediocre antenna. I > certainly have. > > - Keith KD1E - > - K2 5411 - > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Fred (FL) > Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 9:38 PM > To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net > Subject: [Elecraft] What Vertical Antenna Do I Need? > > I'm another limited space, restricted community ham (for now). I've > been considering different types of verticals which might be best. I > THINK, I'm looking for an antenna which: > > - vertical ? > - no radials > - no counterpoises > - no guy-wires > - 40 thru 10 > - maybe 4 shorter buried radials (if I must) > - not a lot of "visual" space, for neighbors > > We have a MOBILE Home (mostly plastic, and > wood) - which sits on a slab of concrete, surrounded by 8x8 wood timers, > 2 feet high on front side of mobile. Can easily get UNDER mobile, thru > removable siding. > > Park owner, OK'd a "marine antenna" - whatever that means to him. We > live on shore of St. Lawrence River - Canada in the distance. > > What commercial or home-made antenna could suit my bill? > > Fred > N3CSY > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
