[RTTY] RTTY Contesting

Wed Mar 25 19:39:49 PDT 2009

I agree with Don, the C4 is a great antenna. I owned one for several years and was really happy with it. I have since upgraded to the C31-XR which is obviously a better antenna but with conditions as they are, I don't think stacked mono-banders would make a big difference. Conditions just down right stink right now. I have gone the vertical route for the low bands as well and also agree that a 80M wire of some sort at a reasonable height would be better. For 80M, I am using an inverted vee at 56 feet and can work all over the US with the occasional DX. When I had the vertical, radials were kinda of a pain, always got in the way of yard work since they were not buried. You may be able to construct or purchase some type of shortened wire 80M antenna with loading coils that could fit on your lot. IMO horizontal is better than vertical on the low bands because of the noise pickup.

Best of luck in your choice.

73 de Bob (KI6DY)

--- On Wed, 3/25/09, Don Hill AA5AU <aa5au at bellsouth.net> wrote:
From: Don Hill AA5AU <aa5au at bellsouth.net>
Subject: Re: [RTTY] RTTY Contesting
To: "'RTTY Contesting'" <rtty at contesting.com>
Date: Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 9:22 PM

Hi Stu and welcome back to RTTY contesting.  I show you in my log for a WPX RTTY
contest back in the 90's.  Glad you're back...

There are probably a lot of readers on this reflector who would die for a C4 at
33 feet.  With conditions so poor on the higher
bands right now, it's understandable that you may be frustrated with the
antenna's performance.  But I have to say that the antenna
should perform better on 40 meters than a vertical since you may not have the
room for a lot of radials.  I have owned both the HF6
and HF2 verticals (still have an HF2).  Although both antennas are good
antennas, they are not great.  Your C4 will outperform
either of these verticals.  Now, if you just don't have room for an 80M
wire, then you may consider the HF2 because sometimes it's
nice to have two antennas on 40 meters.  If you plan on doing any SO2R RTTY
contesting, then you could consider the HF6.  But then
again, a multi-band inverted vee at 30' may even outperform the verticals. 
And the C4 will rock on the high bands when the sunspots
come back, even at 33 feet!

I would advise against mounting either of the Butternut antennas above ground
unless you must.  I've tried this without success;
probably because of the lack of room to install a lot of radials.  One big
consideration is the type of ground you have.  Here in
Louisiana it's easy to bury a lot of radials even if they are shorter than
you would like to have them. The ground is soft and
fertile for the most part. Normally in a small lot you don't want your
radials laying on the ground where people can trip over them.
If you can't bury a lot of radios, then the vertical is out of the
question.  I've read of some that mount their verticals above
ground but the situation of raised radials makes this solution impractical for
small lot owners.

I also live on a small lot, but luckily I've been able to get the apex of
my 80M inverted vee up 50 feet and there is no comparison
to the HF2 on that band.  The inverted vee is so much better that I took the
vertical down.  I was able to work into Europe a couple
times on 80M using low power with the vertical, but the wire is always better.

Hope this helps.  Maybe others can chime in with their experiences.

73, Don AA5AU
http://www.aa5au.com
http://www.rttycontesting.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: rtty-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:rtty-bounces at contesting.com] On
Behalf Of Stu Ritter
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 2:44 PM
To: RTTY Contesting
Subject: [RTTY] RTTY Contesting

Hi,
I'm a contesting newbie.
I've been away from HF in any form for 15 years and am just starting up
again. I've done 2 RTTY tests and really enjoyed it. A lot
different than it was 20 years ago! I was a TTY'er in the Army in the early
60's.

I live on a smallish city lot and have my tower on my roof with a C4 at 33
feet. That's all I can do! I was thinking that it would
be nice to have another antenna besides the yagi.
I really do not have room to put up efficient wire antennas due to lack of
height. I worked the BARTG with 40 and 80 meter dipoles
with peak height of 30 feet. Not too good. The 80 wire had loading coils due to
lack of room.

I've thought a vertical mounted on the roof at 13 feet would be a good
second antenna, either for just 40/80 and or a multi-band
version like a Butternut HF6V.

I'd like to have some feedback from experienced RTTY contesters.

thanks,

Stu
N0LEF
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