Vertical antennas, the south side of Indy.
Ive used all kinds of wire and tubing over the years
so Ill pass on what Ive learned for what ever its
worth.
Verticals do work quite well in a small area but they
shine if they are elevated above ground. How high
depends on what your trying to do. My area to work with
is 50 x 40 feet. I used a Cushcraft R-3 and later a R-5
half wave verticals. They worked very well and worked
lots of DX at a height of 32 to 40 feet. Why? cuz they
were above the surrounding junk ie. house, garage etc.
They didnt work at 48 feet to certain call areas ie VE7
land. Cuz keep in mind unless you isolate the antenna
from the tower, the tower becomes part of the antenna and
begins to screw up the works. So for the fellow who has
the tower and is looking to mount a half wave vertical on
it I'd go for it. If the tower is hemd in on all sides by
houses etc, forget about shunt feeding the tower as you will
just put all your RF into the buildings rather than were you
want it.
I dont know if it was the time of the year or what but on
several occations Ive worked India an the falkland Islands with
the R-5 and never did with a CL-36 yagi at 48 feet. Could be
my location as I did work lots of rare DX with that yagi too!
Another point I'll make is that to compare two different
antennas you got to use a switch that isolates the hot and the
shield from each antenna, if you don't then the other antenna
will become part of your comparison wether you like it or not!!!
Ill get off my box but just some food for thought.
tnx Mike WD9AJY
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