[TowerTalk] Mid-sized beam and 80M vertical suggestions

[Phil Camera]

First, do a search about grounding in the archives; this topic, in all forms, has been thoroughly & exhaustively discussed here many times over.  Do what the manufacturer's say and don't go cheap; lightning (correct spelling) in the house is not good.

I'd say that the C19 looks good on paper; I'd go with Force 12 antennas.  I have their WARC beam and love it.

On the low bands, your low dipole is not good.  You really need to be vertically polarized.  I've used HF2Vs for years and have had good luck.  You may also want to consider shunt feeding the tower and antenna for use as a transmit antenna.  And that brings me to the last point and that is you really need to investigate a separate receiving antenna for the low bands.  Beverages are out but K9AY loops, delta loops, pennants, flags are quite doable and work well.  Gd luck, cu on the bands.  Phil  KB9CRY

-------------- Original message -------------- 

> Hi guys, 
> 
> I'm about a month or two away from my first tower and beam. While I have 
> some questions on grounding that I will ask in another thread, I'm looking 
> for ideas on antennas. 
> 
> For the higher bands (20 and up) I think I've found a good compromise 
> between good DX performance and sleeping in the dog-house . The Force12 
> C-19 looks pretty good on paper but I've never talked to anybody who's had 
> one. Can anybody give me a thumbs-up or thumbs-down on this antenna? 
> 
> My original thought was a 4 element SteppIR, then a C-31XR, but neither of 
> those got past the War Department, so I'm down to something a little more 
> modest. Other than the C-19, what others should I consider? 
> 
> Long-haul DX from Northern NJ is my primary goal here (I'm sitting at 267 
> worked, so it's Southest Asia and the Indian Ocean that I need the most). I 
> need something that will get through, as loudly as possible, within the 
> constraints of the boom and element length described above. Can this be 
> accomplished with the C-19 (or something equivalent)? I'm on about 1/3 of 
> an acre in a residential neighbourhood. 
> 
> Also, 80M DXing is rapidly becoming a favourite winter's passion. I've had 
> good luck (and an 80M DXCC) with a flat-top dipole at 35', fed with 45' of 
> cheap RG-8X and 500W but I'd like to go a little better in the new QTH. 
> Should I consider a vertical instead of a dipole or vee, and if so, what 
> are your recommendations? I've heard some OK things about the Butternut 
> HF2V, some bad things about the Force12 Sigma 80 and a friend who raves 
> about the massively-priced Titanex verticals. 
> 
> Thanks in advance. 
> 
> 
> 
> 73 de Peter (W2IRT) 
> w2irt at arrl.net 
> 
> Please visit http://www.nyctrackbook.com for details of my book 
> Tracks of the NYC Subway 
> 
> _______________________________________________ 
> 
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> Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions 
> and ask for Sherman, W2FLA. 
> 
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