When I moved to my present location 8+ years ago, I asked myself many
of the same questions. I figured I was at the point where age and
health meant that tower climbing wasn't really an option and, unlike
most of my neighbors, I didn't have any trees adequate for stringing
high wire antennas. There is a fair amount of slope to the north and
any radials would be somewhat asymmetric. After considering many
different ideas, I bought a copy of the vertical antenna report by
K7LXC and N0AX <http://www.championradio.com/publications.html>,
which I found to have a good comparison of several approaches. In
particular, the Cushcraft R8 sounded ideal for my situation and I
nearly decided on that.
I then took a look at the Hy-Gain AV640. It is quite similar to the
R8, except that it does not use traps and is less expensive. I
purchased one of these and have been quite pleased with the
performance. I mounted it on a 15 ft. piece of pipe which is tied to
the eaves of my house and the base is a couple feet above the roof
line (my total expenditures were about $425). It has a good match on
40 through 10 meters and I have been able to work a fair amount of DX
on all of the bands (or at least I did when the sunspots were
cooperating), finally getting my country count over 300. I have also
used it with a tuner on 80 and 160 and made 2000+ mile contacts on
both of those bands. The only comparison I made was with a low (15
ft. above ground) dipole I put up when I first moved in and the
vertical was superior in all of my measurements. I live about 500
feet from an inlet on Puget Sound and I expect that the proximity to
salt water helps, but it probably would independently of which type
of antenna I used. All in all, I have been happy with my choice of
the AV-640.
Bob. N7XY
Bainbridge Island, WA (NA-065)
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