Butternut HF6V need guys?
 

I live in Indiana and am in the process of ground mounting a Butternut HF6V
vertical antenna. The antennal is located in a section of lawn which is 40
feet from the nearest building. I am sure a set of guys would make a more
sturdy antenna, but I don't want to cause lawn mowing problems, and I don't
want to increase the visual impact of this antenna. Any comments or advice
is welcome.

John, N9JG

John Gotwals wrote:
I live in Indiana and am in the process of ground mounting a Butternut HF6V
vertical antenna. The antennal is located in a section of lawn which is 40
feet from the nearest building. I am sure a set of guys would make a more
sturdy antenna, but I don't want to cause lawn mowing problems, and I don't
want to increase the visual impact of this antenna. Any comments or advice
is welcome.

John, N9JG


My HF9V has withstood Iowa and PA winds, both ground-mounted and
elevated without a single problem. The antenna can be guyed, however, if
you feel it necessary. The directions show the placement of guys on the
mast. It's important to get the proper placement so winds don't do any
damage if it's guyed too high or too low.

If you don't have the instructions, you can download them at

http://www.bencher.com/

73 & gl
Dave
N0HNJ

Thanks for your comments. I purchased a new HF6V, and the instructions do
mention keeping the angle about 45°. I plan to install it without guys, but
I wanted to see if someone had some strong advice to the contrary.

"Dave "Doc" Corio" wrote in message
...
My HF9V has withstood Iowa and PA winds, both ground-mounted and elevated
without a single problem. The antenna can be guyed, however, if you feel
it necessary. The directions show the placement of guys on the mast. It's
important to get the proper placement so winds don't do any damage if it's
guyed too high or too low.

John Gotwals wrote:

Thanks for your comments. I purchased a new HF6V, and the instructions do
mention keeping the angle about 45°. I plan to install it without guys, but
I wanted to see if someone had some strong advice to the contrary.

"Dave "Doc" Corio" wrote in message
...

My HF9V has withstood Iowa and PA winds, both ground-mounted and elevated
without a single problem. The antenna can be guyed, however, if you feel
it necessary. The directions show the placement of guys on the mast. It's
important to get the proper placement so winds don't do any damage if it's
guyed too high or too low.

I'll chime in that my HF6V is also doing fine without guys.

- Mike KB3EIA -

I have do not have guys on the HF6V I own and have had no problems at
all. WE had sustanied winds of almost 60mph this winter and no
problem at all.

Do take the time though if you have not already and add a few radials.
Cut you lawn real short,, lay down several radials, pull them taught
and then stake them in the ground with ground cloth staples (garden
center) The grass will grow right up aroound them and they will
"disapear" into the ground. Huge difference in performance.

Ron
On Fri, 8 Jul 2005 07:56:25 -0500, "John Gotwals"
wrote:

I live in Indiana and am in the process of ground mounting a Butternut HF6V
vertical antenna. The antennal is located in a section of lawn which is 40
feet from the nearest building. I am sure a set of guys would make a more
sturdy antenna, but I don't want to cause lawn mowing problems, and I don't
want to increase the visual impact of this antenna. Any comments or advice
is welcome.

John, N9JG

I do plan to add a fair number of guys, and will be installing them just as
you have suggested. I do have a question about driving the 1 1/8" mounting
tube into the earth. The directions give a warning about splitting the
plastic insert and suggest placing a piece of wood on top of the tube and
then hammer on the wood. The soil here is clay, and the ground is quite dry,
at the present time. Do you, or anyone else, have any suggestions about
driving the tube into the ground. Should I drive a wooden stake first to
form a hole, remove the stake, and then drive the tube into the hole left by
the stake?

"Ron" wrote in message
...
I have do not have guys on the HF6V I own and have had no problems at
all. WE had sustanied winds of almost 60mph this winter and no
problem at all.

Do take the time though if you have not already and add a few radials.
Cut you lawn real short,, lay down several radials, pull them taught
and then stake them in the ground with ground cloth staples (garden
center) The grass will grow right up aroound them and they will
"disapear" into the ground. Huge difference in performance.

On Sat, 9 Jul 2005 07:18:07 -0500, "John Gotwals"
wrote:

I do plan to add a fair number of guys, and will be installing them just as
you have suggested. I do have a question about driving the 1 1/8" mounting
tube into the earth. The directions give a warning about splitting the
plastic insert and suggest placing a piece of wood on top of the tube and
then hammer on the wood. The soil here is clay, and the ground is quite dry,
at the present time. Do you, or anyone else, have any suggestions about
driving the tube into the ground. Should I drive a wooden stake first to
form a hole, remove the stake, and then drive the tube into the hole left by
the stake?

I's suggest you take a few days and water the area first, you can use
a 'starter hole' approach also. Drive a stake in and withdraw then
over the course of a day fill that hole with water and allow it to
seep in then water again. You don't want to go too deep with your
'starter hole' though - just enough to hold some water.

I suggest you take a few days and water the area first,

==================================

This may be fine for some amateurs. But what about the people in
southern England where the present water shortage will cause the
goverment to introduce compulsory metering of domestic water supplies.
It's something to do with Earth warming, man-made climatic
disturbance, and the price of a glass of clean drinking water in
London.
----
Reg.

Reg Edwards wrote:
I suggest you take a few days and water the area first,


==================================

This may be fine for some amateurs. But what about the people in
southern England where the present water shortage will cause the
goverment to introduce compulsory metering of domestic water supplies.
It's something to do with Earth warming, man-made climatic
disturbance, and the price of a glass of clean drinking water in
London.
----
Reg.


Use GRAY water. That's the water from the sink, bath tub etc. This will
ease the load on the waste water treatment plant and allow you to soak
the ground at the same time. A little more work but it can be worth it.

Dave WD9BDZ

Why would anyone save water if their water supply was not metered?

"Reg Edwards" wrote in message
...
This may be fine for some amateurs. But what about the people in
southern England where the present water shortage will cause the
goverment to introduce compulsory metering of domestic water supplies.
It's something to do with Earth warming, man-made climatic
disturbance, and the price of a glass of clean drinking water in
London.

From my own experience (water problems aside) use a smaller pipe to
drive a pilot hole. If your ground mount is 1 1/8", use either a 3/4, or
at the most, 7/8" pipe to make a pilot hole. I tried using 1 1/8", and
ended up with quite a bit of "slop". 3/4" seemed to yield the best
results for me. Leaves enough earth to firmly hold the base, yet makes
it very easy to install without beating the heck out of the base Itself!

73
Dave
N0HNJ

I do plan to add a fair number of guys, and will be installing them just as
you have suggested. I do have a question about driving the 1 1/8" mounting
tube into the earth. The directions give a warning about splitting the
plastic insert and suggest placing a piece of wood on top of the tube and
then hammer on the wood. The soil here is clay, and the ground is
quite dry,
at the present time. Do you, or anyone else, have any suggestions about
driving the tube into the ground. Should I drive a wooden stake first to
form a hole, remove the stake, and then drive the tube into the hole
left by
the stake?

Post Hole/fencing Borer comes to mind or depending on your current soil
condition you could use a hose pipe with a tube inserted in the tip and
bore a hole that way, albeit fairly high pressure is needed, but that
could be achieved with a pressure washer. As you start off your bound to
be soaked a bit, but as you [bore deeper] push/ pull the nozzle out of
the hole so that excess soil/clay can be removed by the water, bore down
to your required depth, insert pole and back fill with sand or tamp down
soil sides. This is also one way to ensure you can get a decent enough
hole, deep enough to insert a earth stake. Your idea of utilising a hole
by driving in a stake would no doubt give you problems extracting it
back out again as I assume that you would be requiring a depth of about
900mm? Dave d:-)

--
Amateur Radio Call Sign M1BTI, Located in Manchester England.
Locator square IO83TK
Chairman Of Trafford Radio Club. Club Call Signs G0TRG & M1BBP
Located at Umist, University Of Manchester Institute For Science And
Technology
Share What You Know, Learn What You Don't.

The only thing I had on hand was some square cross-sectional hard wood
stake. The cross-sectional diagonal length was about 3/4 of the Butternut
mounting tube diameter. I have clay soil and we are in the middle of a
drought, so I used plenty of water and each time went an inch or two deeper.
Driving the mounting tube was quite easy, and the plumb is quite good.

The tube is now in the ground and secured to a DX Engineering stainless
ground plane radial plate. http://dxengineering.com/

"Dave "Doc" Corio" wrote in message
...
From my own experience (water problems aside) use a smaller pipe to drive
a pilot hole. If your ground mount is 1 1/8", use either a 3/4, or at the
most, 7/8" pipe to make a pilot hole. I tried using 1 1/8", and ended up
with quite a bit of "slop". 3/4" seemed to yield the best results for me.
Leaves enough earth to firmly hold the base, yet makes it very easy to
install without beating the heck out of the base Itself!

73
Dave
N0HNJ

While we are on the subject, does anyone have a good source for the
capacitors used on this antenna?

I have a HF6V thats been pretty mangled and want to rebuild it.

thanks

Bruce

bt wrote:
While we are on the subject, does anyone have a good source for the
capacitors used on this antenna?

Hamfests are a good place to start. I've seen some at most I've gone to.

- Mike KB3EIA -

On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 20:04:39 -0500, bt wrote:

While we are on the subject, does anyone have a good source for the
capacitors used on this antenna?

I have a HF6V thats been pretty mangled and want to rebuild it.

thanks

Bruce

go to the www.bencher.com site; Butternut is also at that site and
they have parts lists there -- you should be able to order from
Butternut

bob
k5qwg

My antenna and ground mount came to me a used equipment/
The mounting post that came along is fantastically designed. Let me
try to describe it to you:
Galvanized steel water pipe four feet in lenght with a nominal Inner
diameter of about 1 inch.
One end has a taper point ( very much like a sand point well point)
wellded to it..

The opposite end ( side that vertical and atenna insulater is dropped
into) has 3 in by 3 inch " ears welded parrallel to the length of the
pipe, 5 inches from the end and 180 aprt from each other.
The welded steel ears are about 3/16 of an in thick. Each ear has a
3/8 inch hole drilled through them about 3/4 of an inch from the top
of the ear. This permits hooking 1/4 or 5/16 proof coil chain as a
point to remove pole using a convienent fulcrum or jack.
I use a 10 pound mall to drive the pole into medium hard ground. I
strike the ears, not the pole. When you get to ground level with the
ears continue to drive the ears to the bolt holes. This pole will
never rotate.

It is almost easier to fabricate this than it is to describe it.
Completely removable and reusable mount.
Two 3/16 holes are drilled through the fiberglass insulator and
through the mount where I have number 10 -24 stainless hardware.

Ron





On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 15:44:19 +0100, Dave Piggin
wrote:



I do plan to add a fair number of guys, and will be installing them just as
you have suggested. I do have a question about driving the 1 1/8" mounting
tube into the earth. The directions give a warning about splitting the
plastic insert and suggest placing a piece of wood on top of the tube and
then hammer on the wood. The soil here is clay, and the ground is
quite dry,
at the present time. Do you, or anyone else, have any suggestions about
driving the tube into the ground. Should I drive a wooden stake first to
form a hole, remove the stake, and then drive the tube into the hole
left by
the stake?

Post Hole/fencing Borer comes to mind or depending on your current soil
condition you could use a hose pipe with a tube inserted in the tip and
bore a hole that way, albeit fairly high pressure is needed, but that
could be achieved with a pressure washer. As you start off your bound to
be soaked a bit, but as you [bore deeper] push/ pull the nozzle out of
the hole so that excess soil/clay can be removed by the water, bore down
to your required depth, insert pole and back fill with sand or tamp down
soil sides. This is also one way to ensure you can get a decent enough
hole, deep enough to insert a earth stake. Your idea of utilising a hole
by driving in a stake would no doubt give you problems extracting it
back out again as I assume that you would be requiring a depth of about
900mm? Dave d:-)