Hey Jim,
Howzitgoingeh?...that?s Canadian for ??Sup??
Good to know you are making progress. Of course, I don?t have a 2V, but a
9V, but they are nearly identical, except for # of bands..
I did not tune my radials. I cut 2 per band (3 of course is better) then
attached them to a homemade plate that encircles (but is physically, not
electrically isolated from) the base tube. It was just a lot easier to
attached 14 radials to a plate, rather than a single stud. (in your case, 6
wires might not be too bad, but I was concerned about 14 wires pulling on a
wee little #10-32 machine screw(or whatever it is). With Deer and Moose
intrusion a very real problem where I am,( a daily occurrence in fact) I
wondered if they?d ?take it out? in the middle of a contest, which would
turn the air blue in the shack, hence the plate.
I was always taught, and usually found it to be more or less true, that if
you slope radials downwards towards the ground, you?ll get closer to a
50-Ohm match. Whether than can be carved in stone, I really can?t say, but
pretty any ground plane I?ve ever built over the last 35yrs, whether @ 2?AGL
or 40?AGL I always do it this way or at least try to anyways??. 20-30º
seems to be enough in most cases. 30-45º may be even better, but I didn?t
have the height in this case. I built a wire 10m GP a cpl years ago and
thought my SWR meter was broken as it was dead flat across most of 10m. It
was at around 25? at the base, and hung in a Maple tree??I did extremely
well in the CQWW CW a few years ago with the base radials (3 of them) at
nearly 42-45º_
For the HF9V, I did not use the formula 234/f for the length of my
radials?.I used whatever it was Bencher recommended and that I totally
forget now?was it 240/f? I can?t find the paper?? In any case, the radials
were slightly longer than what I am used to and it worked out perfectly with
no tweaking needed (of the radials). (nor wanted, hi !!)
So mine aren?t sloped quite as much as I would?ve liked?.8 or 9?AGL down to
around 5-6?AGL in most cases, but there is at least some slope to them.
(break out the scientific calculator and find the arctan, hi !)
Also, many of them are really close to the other bands radials. I found
little interaction. I was quite surprised . I was moving them around and
touching them etc while watching my antenna analyzer (AA-230PRO) and saw
little variance. Of course, there was SOME, but not as much as you would
THINK there?d be. Perhaps the sheer volume of wire and the proximity to a
shed roof and some closeby trees ?dampened? the effect of a set of tuned
radials.(??)
All this to say Jim, ?just cut them and forget about them? and tune the
vertical part and your base coils and I think you?ll be golden.
If you check the files section on the Butternut Yahoo website, you?ll see a
mod I did to add full coverage to 80m, which coincidentally also lowers the
SWR slightly @ the top end of 40m for those times you are SSB contesting on
7290kcs ;-)
I am not an authority,(nor play one on TV) but happy to answer any other
questions or add comments to how you make out.
GL in CQWW and hope to see you this weekend?.I am doing 10m single band, so
will be using my only 10m band directional antenna (5el @ 24?) and not the
HF9V most of time, except times when I ?power split? between
propagationallly transistional times?.when EU is closing and opening to
Carib/SA/W6 etc.
Cheers,
Mike VE9AA
Mike, Coreen & Corey
Keswick Ridge, NB
From: James Setzler [mailto:jms_k1sd@verizon.net]
Sent: November 22, 2013 2:31 PM
To: ve9aa@nbnet.nb.ca
Cc: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: HF2V Elevated or On Ground - Redux
Mike,
Thanks to you and everyone who responded the my question about the Butternut
HF2V. There is a wealth of information that was shared and I?ve been doing
a lot of research in the last few days.
The antenna is going back up. I have it mounted on a 10 ft. 4X4 post with
the feed point at 8 ft. I?ll use 3 tuned 80 meter radials elevated at 9 ft.
and 3 tuned 40 meter radials at 10 ft. No separation of the radials except
in elevation; i.e., each 40m radial will be 1 ft. over and parallel to each
80m radial. I plan to tune one 80m radial and then one 40m and then cut the
others to those lengths. Further SWR adjustments will be made using the
coils. The 10 ft. 4X4 post tilts over at 4 ft. so I don?t have to lean the
ladder against it to reach the 10-12 ft. for the coils.
Thanks for the contest QSOs.
73 James K1SD
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