[TowerTalk] AV-640 Vertical

[Bob Nielsen]

On Fri, Nov 14, 2003 at 04:50:10AM +0000, dxingman at att.net wrote:
> I have been reading many years of Reflector Archives on TT, but have never 
> seen a post relating to the Hy-Gain "Patriot" AV-640 eight band vertical. 
> This is one of Hy-Gain's latest additions (several years back)of "no-radial" 
> end fed verticals that resonates on each band as an 3/8 wavelength radiator. 
> This is done with no traps, utilizing individual  3/8 wave radiators on 6, 
> 10, 12, 15 & 17 meters with the main radiator operating on 20, 30 & 40 meters 
> using parallel top loaded coils and individual capacity hats. They use a 
> matching network (toroidal transformer & current balun)and 72" counterpoises 
> on the base for matching.
> 
> Going back through many years of publications, I found several "New Product" 
> tests that spoke "favorably" about the antenna's performance as long as it is 
> mounted per the Hy-Gain's suggestions: at least 8' from ground and higher is 
> better.
> 
> Looking for any feed-back on this antenna. I've read all the views, opinions, 
> about all the others: Butternut, GAP, MFJ-1792/1793, etc but nothing on this 
> series. Would this make a "decent" antenna for a "home, away from home" setup 
> that has limited space available?  Thanks in advance.

The AV-640 is quite similar to the Cushcraft R8 (which fared quite well
in the K7LXC/N0AX report on verticals), except that it uses the coils
and capacity hats instead of traps.  As I am physically no longer able
to climb a tower, I was looking for a good multi-band vertical and in
light of this similarity and its lower price compared to the R8, I
bought one and installed it at ~13 ft (no radials, but fairly good
ground characteristics) a year ago.

I have been satisfied with its performance, which surpasses the low
dipole I used previously.  No magic, but it works at least as well as I
expected.  I can use it over the full width of any of the bands using
the internal tuners of my TS-570 and K2.  I have even loaded it on 80
and 160, working stations at distances over 1000 miles.

73,
Bob, N7XY

-- 
Bob Nielsen, N7XY                          n7xy (at) n7xy.net
Bainbridge Island, WA                      http://www.n7xy.net