[TowerTalk] Vertical Mounting

[Mahlon Haunschild]

Doug,

Assuming that your "swamp" is generally in the clear of everything else, 
and given your soil conditions, ground mount that sucker & lay down a 
reasonable number of non-resonant radials.  By the way, by "ground 
mount" I mean position the feed no more than six inches above the ground.

I experimented with an elevated HF6V a number of years ago.  The antenna 
  feed was 10 feet in the air & I used four resonant radials, per the 
Butternut design in the antenna's instructions.  It's tuning and 
performance were appalling & definitely not worth the effort I put into it.

Unless  you can "droop" the radials to provide a better 50 ohm match for 
an elevated vertical I can't see any reason to not ground mount it.

regards,

Mahlon - K4OQ

Doug Rehman wrote:

> I'm cleaning up a Butternut HF6V with 17m & 12m add-ons that has been out of
> service for about 10 years. I'm trying to decide how to mount it and what to
> do for radials. The area that is will be mounted in is very moist year
> round.
> 
> Any advice on whether it would be better to mount it a few feet above ground
> or if there would be a significant improvement in mounting it about 15' up?
> 
> Would I be better off with resonant radials or random length radials (ie:
> convenient length for terrain obstructions)? How many? (I'm not looking for
> a near theoretically perfect system, just a good alternative, for the higher
> bands, to my 500' Windom until I can get my towers up.)
> 
> Thanks,
> Doug
> K4DDR