Vertical antenna recomendations
 

Greetings all....
I'm slowly getting back into Am. Radio, currently on 2m & 70cm. (I had a
General before my current call) and my knowledge of current antennas
and transmission line options is really outdated.

I have a place in the remote areas of North Central Florida that's on a
bluff about 125 feet above the surrounding forest. About 150' from
the house is an old Satellite antenna mounting pole (really solid and
substantial) that's maybe 18 or 20' tall. The big dish isn't there
anymore, just the pole. I'm thinking that I would like to mount a
vertical antenna on the top of the pole. I would anticipate running
maybe an Icom 706MkIIG on HF and the 2m and 70cm. Many many questions
come up and I could benefit from people with more current knowledge of
what's available.

1. What verticals are recommended these days? (I used to like the
Butternut) The 706 claims 100 watts on HF and 6M, 50W on 2m and 20w on 440.

2. With the vertical up about 18', what about radials? can I bury them
at the base so I don't have guy wires draping down from the top of the
pole at the base of the Vertical?

3. What suggestions for coax transmission line to make that long a run?
I was thinking I would put it in Schedule 40 PVC pipe sealed as if it
were carrying water, and bury it.

Although I'm out in the middle of the boonies, esthetics is still an
issue, so I don't want wires showing.

Thanks for your comments...
John
KD4RN

Personally I've never been impressed with Butternut's quality. But maybe
that's just me.
I would look at things like the CushCraft R7 (or similar model from
HyGain). Or if I really had money to burn, the big tower from HyGain.
If I were to "roll my own", a Disc-Cone made for 40M would be great
(with continuous coverage to 6 meters, all with no radials). The down
side, large : about 40 ft tall and 35 ft across, unless you wanted to walk
under the cone, then it would be 50 ft tall and 40 feet across.

--
-----
Ralph Lindberg N7BSN
RV and Camping FAQ http://www.ralphandellen.us/rv
Cry bother and loose the Pooh's of War

John you might look at the 1/2 wave end fed verticals -- they are multiband
and no radials required -- just a few short counterpoises.

See Hy-gain DX-77A
http://www.hy-gain.com/products.php?catid=2

Cushcraft R-6000
http://www.cushcraft.com/amateur/details.asp?catid=69

There several others as well

For a comprehensive list of antenna mfg's
See AC6V's site
http://ac6v.com/antdealer.htm

--
Caveat Lecter



"John" wrote in message
news:6NYvd.7201$E_6.5061@trnddc04...
Greetings all....
I'm slowly getting back into Am. Radio, currently on 2m & 70cm. (I had a
General before my current call) and my knowledge of current antennas and
transmission line options is really outdated.

I have a place in the remote areas of North Central Florida that's on a
bluff about 125 feet above the surrounding forest. About 150' from the
house is an old Satellite antenna mounting pole (really solid and
substantial) that's maybe 18 or 20' tall. The big dish isn't there
anymore, just the pole. I'm thinking that I would like to mount a
vertical antenna on the top of the pole. I would anticipate running maybe
an Icom 706MkIIG on HF and the 2m and 70cm. Many many questions come up
and I could benefit from people with more current knowledge of what's
available.

1. What verticals are recommended these days? (I used to like the
Butternut) The 706 claims 100 watts on HF and 6M, 50W on 2m and 20w on
440.

2. With the vertical up about 18', what about radials? can I bury them at
the base so I don't have guy wires draping down from the top of the pole
at the base of the Vertical?

3. What suggestions for coax transmission line to make that long a run? I
was thinking I would put it in Schedule 40 PVC pipe sealed as if it were
carrying water, and bury it.

Although I'm out in the middle of the boonies, esthetics is still an
issue, so I don't want wires showing.

Thanks for your comments...
John
KD4RN

John wrote:

Butternut still, HF9 if you can afford it. Put a 2m 70m Arrow
(or make a copy) Jpole on your house (I have one and love it)

http://www.arrowantennas.com/

Design to build your own

http://www.arrowantennas.com/inst/ijpole.html

As far as Coax, Get some of the really great stuff at

http://www.davisrf.com/


Coax is at

http://www.davisrf.com/ham1/coax.htm

try thier Bury Flex (9914F), but if your going to run it in a Conduit
then most anything would work, I bought the 9913 and LOVE IT

RFDavis has great service too, they fixed a foul up (IE the President
himself fixed it) and they are above reproach. All my Coax and
wire needs will go through them from now on


Enjoy


Scotty N7HJ
Everett, Washington

On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 15:31:14 GMT, John wrote:

Greetings all....
I'm slowly getting back into Am. Radio, currently on 2m & 70cm. (I had a
General before my current call) and my knowledge of current antennas
and transmission line options is really outdated.



Thanks for your comments...
John
KD4RN

Your best bet is a copy of the ARRL Antenna Book. About $30. Pretty
informative.

Otherwise, the Butternut verticals have a pretty good reputation
nowadays. Go the the Bencher web site (they sell Butternut), and look
at some of the tech papers they have for vertical antennas. That would
be a quick way to catch up on things...

bob
k5qwg

On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 15:31:14 GMT, John wrote:

1. What verticals are recommended these days?

Hi John,

Just put up as much vertical tubing as will support itself, insulated
from the pole.

2. With the vertical up about 18', what about radials?

Use the pole as the one and only radial. You would then have a
vertical offset dipole with one end grounded. I've never seen a name
put to this, but as an ad-hoc antenna, as good as any. If you want
more radials, simply tie them in at the bottom of the pole, buried
into the ground about an inch or two (or even tacked down along the
ground every 6" to a foot or two depending upon vegetation/grass
coverage - more grass, less tacking). Don't worry about more than 10
or 20 of 1/8 wavelength of the lowest frequency.

3. What suggestions for coax transmission line to make that long a run?
I was thinking I would put it in Schedule 40 PVC pipe sealed as if it
were carrying water, and bury it.

Seal it only at the highest point so that it can drain when water gets
in (it will). Always choose a pipe several times larger than your
first guess and use sweeps at the bends instead of elbows.

An alternative is to electrically tie the tubing to the pole, and
Gamma feed the pole. Same advice about ground goes. One problem is
that this one size fits all (roughly 40M and up if the whole thing
stands some 30-40 feet tall) is that the higher bands will radiate
higher and higher into the sky. You might, then, want to use the pole
to support yard-arms that hold different radiators out and a way from
the pole and each other (one reason why you had that bigger pipe
installed for each of their feeds).

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

"John" wrote in message
news:6NYvd.7201$E_6.5061@trnddc04...
Greetings all....
I'm slowly getting back into Am. Radio, currently on 2m & 70cm. (I had a
General before my current call) and my knowledge of current antennas and
transmission line options is really outdated.

I have a place in the remote areas of North Central Florida that's on a
bluff about 125 feet above the surrounding forest. About 150' from the
house is an old Satellite antenna mounting pole (really solid and
substantial) that's maybe 18 or 20' tall. The big dish isn't there
anymore, just the pole. I'm thinking that I would like to mount a
vertical antenna on the top of the pole. I would anticipate running maybe
an Icom 706MkIIG on HF and the 2m and 70cm. Many many questions come up
and I could benefit from people with more current knowledge of what's
available.

1. What verticals are recommended these days? (I used to like the
Butternut) The 706 claims 100 watts on HF and 6M, 50W on 2m and 20w on
440.

2. With the vertical up about 18', what about radials? can I bury them at
the base so I don't have guy wires draping down from the top of the pole
at the base of the Vertical?

3. What suggestions for coax transmission line to make that long a run? I
was thinking I would put it in Schedule 40 PVC pipe sealed as if it were
carrying water, and bury it.

Although I'm out in the middle of the boonies, esthetics is still an
issue, so I don't want wires showing.

Thanks for your comments...
John
KD4RN

SteppIR
73
H.

"John" wrote in message
news:6NYvd.7201$E_6.5061@trnddc04...
Greetings all....
I'm slowly getting back into Am. Radio, currently on 2m & 70cm. (I had a
General before my current call) and my knowledge of current antennas
and transmission line options is really outdated.

I have a place in the remote areas of North Central Florida that's on a
bluff about 125 feet above the surrounding forest. About 150' from
the house is an old Satellite antenna mounting pole (really solid and
substantial) that's maybe 18 or 20' tall. The big dish isn't there
************
* First things first - move the house closer to that pole.
*****
anymore, just the pole. I'm thinking that I would like to mount a
vertical antenna on the top of the pole. I would anticipate running
maybe an Icom 706MkIIG on HF and the 2m and 70cm. Many many questions
come up and I could benefit from people with more current knowledge of
what's available.

1. What verticals are recommended these days? (I used to like the
Butternut) The 706 claims 100 watts on HF and 6M, 50W on 2m and 20w on
440.

2. With the vertical up about 18', what about radials? can I bury them
at the base so I don't have guy wires draping down from the top of the
pole at the base of the Vertical?

3. What suggestions for coax transmission line to make that long a run?
I was thinking I would put it in Schedule 40 PVC pipe sealed as if it
were carrying water, and bury it.
***********************************
a Long run like that deserves window-line in that pipe.

******

Although I'm out in the middle of the boonies, esthetics is still an
issue, so I don't want wires showing.
********************
Still married - re-worded " the xyl makes me hide the wires"
********************

Thanks for your comments...
John
KD4RN


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.807 / Virus Database: 549 - Release Date: 12/7/2004