[Antennas] Putting up a vertical

[timbarrett at frontiernet.net]

Hi All - I'm looking for some advice before I put in the effort to erect
an antenna, any comments appreciated!

Having emigrated from the UK (ex M0TIM) to the USA (new QTH is upstate
NY, near Rochester) I’m hoping to get back into amateur radio and put
up an antenna before the winter sets in.  I have a Butternut HF6V
antenna that I used in my small London backyard. I purchased this
second hand, along with the counterpoise kit which I have never used. I
now plan to erect the antenna at the side of my one acre yard and since
there is open land to the side of my property I can lay down radials
without difficulty.

For the transmission line from the shack (in the house), I plan to lay
RG8 cable in 1.25” plastic conduit for a distance of approx 100’ buried
1 foot below the surface (alongside a drainage pipe I am having
installed). Does anybody have experience of waterproofing these
conduits to stop ingress of water when buried - or shouldn't I worry?

The HF6V vertical will be located within a row of low trees (20’)
running approx North East / South West. The antenna will have a clear
view to the east and west with some blocking from the trees in the N/S
direction. I need to minimize the visual impact of the antenna.

The radial system will be copper wire. Except for the line of trees I
have clear land to lay as many radials for whatever length is
appropriate.

The position is quite windy and exposed so I will probably guy the
antenna. I am thinking of creating a concrete foundation for the
antenna, but don’t want to permanently fix the supplied HF6V base into
the concrete in case I want to move it later. I’ll probably put a short
piece of scaffolding pole into the concrete and then fix the antenna to
that.

Actually, I have several mounting options:

1.	ground mounted with radials
2.	mast mounted using the counterpoise kit
3.	mast mounted with ground radials (would this even work?)

Is there any benefit to raising the antenna on a mast rather than ground
level mounting? If I do, is a system of ground radials better than the
Butternut Counterpoise system?  Is it even feasible to use a ground
radials system if the antenna is not ground mounted, ie if the feed
point is elevated? One fact to consider is my location, we get a lot of
lake effect snow in the winter and it drifts to the side of my property
so the lower 3 feet of the antenna could be below the snow if I do not
raise the antenna above ground level.

The advice seems to be to put down radials of 30’ long. Is there any
benefit in putting down longer ones and how many should I use?

For lightning protection I plan to use a lightning arrestor at the
antenna feed point to protect the transmission line and another where
the TL enters the house to protect the radio equipment. Looking at
Polyphaser, etc these seem rather expensive – does anybody have an
alternative?

Thanks in anticipation
Tim K9VB