On Aug 22, 2007, at 11:22 AM, Dennis McAlpine wrote:
> In this QTH, I currently have just a Butternut vertical mounted
> five feet above ground. As soon as the snakes go to sleep for the
> winter, I will raise it to 10' and do a better job with the
> placement of the tuned radials.
Why do you want to raise the vertical? on 80m / 160m, the five feet
likely won't make much difference. The key to verticals seems to be
the radial field. If you can put down a bunch of ground-mounted
radials, they should work better than a few elevated radials.
I've had good success with a shunt-fed 15m tall tower with 29 ground-
mounted radials. On 160m, it isn't even 1/10 wave-length tall. And
the matching network can't handle more than 100 watts. It works
better than the 80m dipole at 10m high. On 80m, it's more of a wash.
The dipole usually works better just after sunset and sunrise, the
vertical much better during the darker part of the night.
> That brings me to power. With my current inefficient vertical, it
> makes a big difference if I run a kw or 100 watts. I am actually
> reasonably loud with a kw but many will not hear me barefoot and
> when it comes to keeping a run freq, forget it.
Efficiency is the key. Regardless of power, a more efficient antenna
will work better than an inefficient one.
> So, if you hear a weak K2 calling you in NAQP or SS, don't turn
> you big 3 element SteppIR up north; look towards SC. And,
> remember, I need SC as a mult too.
From where I sit, SC and NY are pretty much the same direction. I
would welcome SC on 20-10m, though. I need those band-states for 5BWAS.
Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
-- Wilbur Wright, 1901
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