[Elecraft] Re: [Icom] Opinions re: HF Verticals?

[Stuart Rohre]

Tom Schiller at Force 12 is a good antenna guru.  He has done his homework,
and the vertical half wave dipole is an excellent vertical antenna, with the
usual advantage of low angle lobes for good DX work.

No vertical will do some things a horizontal will, nor will a horizontal do
all things a vertical can do.  Sometimes one or the other will do what is
normally associated with the other.

Close in working is not the main forte of verticals, but can be done when
conditions are right with good signal reports.  It can hear just fine, it is
the strength of the close in transmit that is down since most of the energy
is going out in the low angle lobes to DX locations.

That said, the loaded shortened half wave vertical, with loading coils to
match it can also give a fine accounting.  As the books will tell you, and
W4RNL has extensively modeled, and written; a dipole can be shortened to 60
per cent of normal length and still be highly efficient.  Thus, Force 12 has
taken basic physics and made very effective antennas for 40 to 10 on the
vertical center feed principle.  Since there are two halves to the antenna
no radial system is needed.  Any ground enhancement would have to come in
the far field, usually at 2 to 5 wavelengths away, well beyond the usual
ham's control.

The people who do not like verticals either do not understand they are
superior for low angle DX, and want them to do close in work all the time,
or they do not have an adequate ground system or radial system if using
"half an antenna"-- the quarter wave vertical and its loaded equivalents.
There are some loaded quarter wave type antennas, that are much less than 60
per cent of full length, where efficiency remains high on the dipole types.

The shortened verticals will work sometimes much better than an excessively
low dipole.  They have many advantages some are:  little real estate
required above ground, and easily hidden behind the house in the back yard.
For antenna challenged hams they may be a viable solution.

Force 12 is one of the few antenna companies whose designers regularly
partake of DX -peditions and test out their designs in real world
operations.
Look at their web page for excellent troubleshooting information on any
antenna as well.

Although I do not own one at present, we have bought them for research work
and find they do things as advertised.  Many personal visits with Tom have
also shown me he knows antennas!
72, Stuart K5KVH