I'm a long time ham (1954) and like to play antennas. I use the DX contests as
activity events, not contests. I have a hill here SE of Salina, Kansas called
Iron Mound, with about a 400 ft drop to Eu and JA. Lots of work with the
terrain programs show that the optimum height is about 45 ft for 20, 15, and
10. In 2004 I bought tower sections for Height Tower Systems: AJ26-225,
AJ22-225, AJ18-172, AJ14-172, and AC11-131 plus the stuff to run a 12 ft Al 2"
mast down to a rotor with the antenna at the tower top.
Soon after SteppIR came out, I bought a 4 element one and found a military
surplus 40 ft sectional crank-up at Hamvention. Loved the system. I could
crank it down, put a step ladder in the pickup, fix it and back up. That hill
has 90 mph wind up the slope and I had to rebuild it about every year.
This year things were OK until just before March we had weeks of high winds and
things went to ... At age 86 I didn't want to do that for the contest. SWR
was bad on all bands: 20m wouldn't go below 2.8. 10m would work a bit if I
tuned it to 29.6, but didn't seem to work. 15m gave one narrow tuning range to
1.08, but only if I pointed NE. NW was horrible and the winds didn't quit.
And tuned to the NE if I went above 320 watts, it seemed to arc. Finally in
the contest with the ACom2000A at 250 watts if just stopped turning on. So I
finished limited on 15M with the Yaesu at 48 watts. Worked all of Eu, Galados,
JA, actually a comment from LY of nice signal!, lost of "your signal is broken
up". Shouldn't have pushed it for the 150 QSOs!
So rebuild time. No more of that 48 watt stuff with a bad antenna! I'm
thinking of using the Heights tower, putting a tri-band up there with only coax
going to it. Getting a crane to stand the completed system and hoping it lasts
for 5 or 6 years. I can assemble the tower up the side of the hill, put the
antenna on from the truck and pull it up, bolt it on the base and pray. No
tuning, etc.
So question: I don't want traps, etc. Something like the SkyHawk 3X10.
That's only 3 Elements rather than the SteppIRs, but when things are working I
don't have trouble breaking pileups. I fact, multiple times I'll call a S5 or
S6 station: KL7, South Africa, JA, etc. and get questioned where I am as the
band isn't open yet! The reason for the switch is strictly wanting something
that goes up, works pretty well, and stays up. My Bernese Mtn dog and I used
to take 4 breaks a day and walk up and down the perimeter and the ponds, no
more.
Antenna suggestion? Sorry for the long note.
N0UU
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