Hi Chuck

At least we have one sane person in the group eh!

I moved from St. Louis to Knoxville last year, as of yet I have not
installed my HF9V here, in St. Louis it was mounted vertical on flat
ground with about 3,500 feet of radials.

The only logical place for me to install my antenna is some 100 feet
below the top of our hill, because of the radial bed. The grade of
the hill is roughly a 30 inch average drop every 10 feet at the top of
the hill.

Unless I build an elevated counterpoise that would have one side of it
about 20 feet in the air, how would the underground radials affect the
operation of the antenna if it is vertical?

Of the hams I have spoken with, those that have theirs vertical say
there is no difference whether the antenna is vertical or not, and
they should be mounted vertically.
Of those that have theirs leaning perpendicular to the grade line,
they claim they could not communicate with certain stations when their
antenna was vertical, but can with it perpendicular.

Although Knoxville is considered to be in a Valley, my home is
situated on the north slope near the top of one of the foothills, but
my property does go to the top, unfortunately, a little too far away
from the house for the VHF/UHF, but it is roughly 30 feet above the
crest of the hill, 60 feet above ground level at the shack.

I guess I could install two separate mounts, one vertical and one
perpendicular and try both ways, but retuning those HF9V's especially
when you have the 160 coil is a real nightmare.

FWIW: I cleared a line through the woods to run some dipoles. My
first installation I mounted the dipoles horizontal with the grade
line. But after putting up the VHF/UHF tower I moved many of the
dipoles upward so they are closer to level. On the higher bands I did
notice some difference, but on the lower bands they seemed to work
about equally as well.

It seems all the 10 meter paper chasers have their ground mounted
antennas perpendicular to the ground, while serious hams have theirs
all mounted vertically.

Even those hams who live in the bottom of the valley have no trouble
with HF communications, but those on top of hills often use large
beams and yagi's to take advantage of their prime location.

I have no antenna restrictions at my new home here, Yeah, other than
what the FAA dictates regarding lighting if they are over a certain
height.

TTUL
Gary




chuck verbositized:

Hello Gary,

Don't know from personal experience, but Les Moxon, author of HF
Antennas for all Locations, seems to believe it creates an advantage.
You might want to read his thoughts on that.

Good luck.

Chuck