[Elecraft] DX on 40m

[Doug Person]

I recently took down a monster beam.  Its performance was not much 
better than my collection of dipoles - mainly due to its low height of 
25 feet.  It was mounted on a short tower on top of my one-story 
garage.  I couldn't leave that short tower empty for the winter.  I have 
built and used many ground-mounted verticals.  Never with any 
satisfactory performance.  I built a full-size 20 meter vertical and 
mounted it on the mast where the beam had been.  I attached 4 
quarter-wave radials spaced evenly at 90 degrees.  When I checked it 
with my MFJ 259 I was delighted to find full-band coverage with an SWR 
below 1.5:1 or less.  After an hour or so of tuning around and comparing 
signals to my 3-band trap dipole, it was clear that the new vertical was 
working extremely well.  Low-angle signals were clearly stronger on the 
vertical and overall performance was at least as good as the dipole.  An 
elevated vertical seems to be vastly better than a ground-mounted 
vertical - my last one had 32 radials and was still not very good.  But 
maybe with a 120 radials like Ron's and a ground-mounted vertical starts 
to perform.

72, Doug -- KØDXV

Craig D. Smith wrote:
> Congratulations, Ron, on the South Cook Islands!   Still on my "to get"
> list.
>
> Yes, ground mounted with lots of radials works well.  But for those
> intimidated with all the space and trenching needed for the radials, there
> is an easy option - raise the vertical and use a counterpoise wire.  I also
> worked 40 meter DX this morning.  Worked EH1YAQ in Spain from Colorado with
> my K2 at 10W with a BuddiPole vertical.  Have the feedpoint raised up on a
> pole at 10 ft and used a single 32 ft counterpoise wire with the far end on
> a stake about 3 ft above the ground.  This arrangement has been working well
> for me, and is easy and quick to set up on a portable basis.
>
> Keep up the good DX!!
>
>           73
>                    .... Craig  AC0DS
>
>
>
>
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