[TowerTalk] Verticals Above Beams

[larryjspammenot@teleport.com]

Most of my locations have been just small city lots, with one or two radials per band on my HF6V (usually just one radial on 80-Meters due to space limitations). There is nothing magical about any of my locations, luck, etc. - most countries are on regularly, and most big DXPeditions usually make special efforts to work the lower bands. Signals from really far away (from the NW/West Coast USA, to difficult places like the Middle East, Eastern Africa, etc.) generally come through pretty well at sunrise/sunset, at the right times of the year. Even here in the "DX Black Hole" of the Pacific NW.

Now I'm sitting at 228 countries on 80M, 276 on 40M, 211 on 30M, 5BDXCC and 5BWAZ, with my HF6V Vertical antenna. Now I'm out in the country, so I have a few more radials for 80 and 40 Meters, but I really don't see any difference in performance over my previous minimal radial systems. Of course, I can hear better out here in the country now as compared to my big City QTH, and I still have an HF6V on the roof at that house in the City, too. The Butternuts at both houses are mounted on a roof tripod, which puts them about 15 feet above ground.

You can do it, too!

What's interesting is how many HF6Vs I pick up at hamfests, garage sales, etc. for $20 to $100. The stories I usually get are "I didn't have room for it and all the radials" - there's always a way to fit them in, somehow - even at apartments! The other big reason I find people getting rid of them is "I just couldn't get it to work right, or "I just couldn't get it to tune right." Of course, when I buy them and take them home, they lways seem to work just fine. I now have enough Butternut verticals to surely last me the rest of my life.

Larry