[TowerTalk] elevated radials vertical

[Forrest Wolf]

Mike,


I'll toss in what I've found on my vertical.  I'm using a Butternut HF9V-X.
Butternut has a schematic for a multi-band ground radial on their site that
is made out of 300 ohm TV ribbon lead.  Frank built up 3 of them for me.
The base of the Butternut is approx. 8' off the ground and the radials
sloped down and were tied off at approx 5' off the ground.  Because of the
location, I couldn't tie them off @ ground level.  My 20m inverted V @ 35'
worked better 99% of the time.  

I pulled those off & installed 8 radials on 20m and 8 on 17m.  They slope
down @ approx 45 degrees.  They are tied off about 3" above ground level.  A
world of difference.  Now I can switch between the two antennas and see a
significant difference with propagation changes.  The difference is obvious
on the S Meter and when watching the PSK waterfall, you can switch between
the 2 antennas and pick up and/or elimiate signals.

Also, I was told the higher the better for the Butternut.


73s
Forrest
K7OCR  

-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Mike K9MI
Sent: Friday, June 08, 2007 5:10 AM
To: Tom Rauch; Al Williams; towertalk at contesting.com
Cc: Rich Patrick
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] elevated radials vertical

One of the new Generals in town has purchased a 30ft pushup mast, the 4 band
Hustler trap vertical (around 21.5 ft) and wants someone to install this for
him with the mast bolted to a side of his house. Hustler shows elevating the
antenna similar to what he wants to do (actually he wants someone else to do
the work), with 2 radials for each of the 4 bands.

I've tried to get him to ground mount the vertical close to the center of
the backyard and put his radial system in the ground a few inches. He
doesn't think that is a very good idea. Where he wants to place the vertical
on the mast and, he will only have 180 degrees to work with in separating
the radials. I don't see that he has 8 places to tie them off to.

I've never used an elevated trap vertical. I don't know how critical the
length and tuning of the radials would be and how important it is that you
have 180 degree separation between radials of the same band. And is the
difference worth the hassle over  ground mounting with a decent radial
system?  Ground mounting is what I used as a novice with a 14 Avq (around 28
years ago) , and that seemed sufficient to me at the time.

I'd appreciate other opinions, and replying direct is fine.

73, Mike K9MI    mike at k9mi.com




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