I agree with spamtank about adding ground radials. My 5BTV has 72 ground
radials and it really does perform well. Pics of the installation here.

1. http://www.ad5th.com/5-BTV.html

Ground return currents are the "other half" of any vertical antenna. Grab
an extra 20db by adding lots of them. Mine total around 1300 ft or wire.

--

Charlie
Deep South 2 Meter SSB Net
www.deepsouthnet.net





"spamtank" wrote in message
...
Ron,

I have had Butternuts for almost 20 years. My first HF6v cost me about
$150. But times have changed. I really swear by my HF9V. I've earned
both DXCC and WAS on a hundred watts.

You will need to bury some ground radials to get the most out of it. I
have used it with only a pair of 6' ground rods driven into the ground.
But this is certainly a compromise. My current setup has about 8 ground
radials of various lengths from about 15 feet to 60 feet, depending on the
rocks in the yard.

The attached link shows the VSWR plot of the antenna across the HF
Spectrum: http://home.comcast.net/~k1rdm/projects.htm . I would recommend
using an antenna analyzer like the MFJ 259 to help tune it.

Good luck, I'm sure you will be happy with it.

73
Rick
K1RDM

Ron in NY wrote:
Hi again all,

It looks like I'm going to get a Butternut HF9VX vertical to replace
my 25
year old Hustler 5BTV. I looked at Gap verticals, but in all the pictures
I've
seen, they seem to have some kind of horizontal array at the bottom. I
plan on
ground mounting this thing, and I'm afraid someone will trip on the array
and
destroy it. My old Hustler had no horizontal elements at ground level,
and in
all the pics I've seen of the Butternut verticals, it looks like there is
nothing sticking out at the bottom either. Is there anything at the
bottom of
the Butternuts, and what's your experience with them ???


RON KA2IIA
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