[Elecraft] Subject: Re: Verticals

Fri Sep 12 08:29:45 EDT 2014

Hello to All

Have been following this closely and felt compelled to finally post my
findings of almost 7 years. First I live in the country on a farm about 7
miles from a small town in SW, MO. so I have the space and relatively noise
area free except for (electric fencing & some power lines). I have 3 major
antennas that I use for HF use, have others but these are the main ones a
6-160m 270" OCFD mounted at 55', a Hi-Gain Hy-Tower 10-80m with a 17m kit
and the 160m top mounted kit with 60 ground mounted radials from 120' to 25'
in length (looks like spokes on a wagon wheel). This vertical has about 190'
of coax buried going to it from the shack closed than I wanted but that was
I ended up with. The last is a Mosley Pro-67-C3 10-40m (10/12/15/17/30/40m)
mounted at 65'. I also have several receiving only antennas but don't use
them much it seems.

I'm going to document one band for this post instead of jumping around which
I could but makes it harder to see results. I mainly work DX QRP to QRO and
have compared my Mosley Pro 67 to the Hi Tower hundreds of times in all
kinds of conditions. The Mosley has 3 elements on 40m and an excellent
performer there and I use it and the Vertical as my main go to antennas for
40m. When they are paired up with my K3 I have very little loss or fading
80-90% of the time. I have found in about 60-80% (a guess-a-ment at best I
admit) of the time the signal strength between these two are about equal or
very close. We all know how these vary and my checks are made using a button
either on my Alpha 9500 or a Bird 74 switch. On 80m this antenna is a real
dream for sure it did much better than a 1/4wl dipole I did have that it
came down almost as soon as it went up. The 270' OCFD does not do well
against it either in fact if not for the vertical 80m DXCC would never come
for me period. Most all of the contacts noted were QRO for the most part on
all antennas.

QRP contacts were all made using my KX3 and decided that I was going to work
my DXCC using only the Vertical. In 19mo. with a 4mo.(health & lighting
damage) layoff so far have confirmed 89 entities, I know not that many but I
have fun anyway. 

One other thing I enjoy off roading but health issues has stopped my walking
very far so I have a Jeep setup for off road use to get (close to the top)
for SOTA activations without driving all the way. There again I use my KX3
and Vertical it is a 31' fiberglass telescoping pole and  31' counterpoise.
This antenna deploys quickly and Easley and I find it to be a good performer
for a portable one. Using the internal tuner on the KX3 it will tune 10-40m
very well with a 1-1 VSWR.

This is not a true statement for all contacts made but a high enough
percentage that it got my attention several years back along with a few club
members and friends. In fact one good friend ended up with one also after
seeing what would do. I must admit the Hi-Tower is very best vertical made
and has been for a long time and not everyone can erect one to the proper
spec it requires, but if you can it will deliver for you. That does mean
using the 6 8' ground rods it calls for also. The night I installed mine all
it had was the ground rods driven and connected to the tower base no radials
period, I guess you could say the coax was a counterpoise. But went inside
and hooked the antenna up to my then FTDX-5000MP and tuned to 80m just to
see what I could hear, the first thing that jumped out was a ZL with 59
signal decided to answer with 200w from the radio 1st try and a QSO.

That's enough of a rant on verticals I guess.

73,
Fred/N0AZZ
K3 Ser # 6730--KX3 # 5210--K2/100 # 6470-KAT100
P3/SVGA--KAT500--W2
Amps Elecraft KPA500 HF/6m--Alpha's 9500 HF--87A HF--Mirage B-5030-G
300+w--(2) B-5016-G's 165w 2m

-----Original Message-----
From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Doug
Turnbull
Sent: Friday, September 12, 2014 3:38 AM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Subject: Re: Verticals

Friends,
    It seems to me that verticals get a bad rap because most people who use
them are space restricted therefore the vertical is close to structures and
there is no room for any radial system.   The counterpoise may be no more
than the pipe hammered into the ground which supports the vertical.    Of
course this is a dummy load.    One I used as KN4WQZ and despite all managed
to make QSOs - better to be on the air.

     Place a vertical in the clear with a proper ground radial system and it
will work and work well perhaps doing better for distance stations than
close in stations.   I have a BigIR vertical from Stepper and it works a
treat against 120 55 to 60 foot radials lain on top of the ground.    Yes
the SteppIR trombone dipole at 24M or 80 feet is an S unit better for one
skip stations but when listening to VK the difference is smaller.   My
vertical is in a wood and would probably do better if it were fully in the
clear.

      I have no doubt that ground planes which are by their nature more in
the clear are probably going to perform better than a ground mounted
vertical.   It is not practical to always mount the vertical in a raised
position.   I wonder if a vertical which is ground mounted against the
optimal radial system is not just as effective a performer as a ground
plane.

      Bottom line is verticals can be mounted in a small space.   They are
not very expensive and even with a modest radial system they can perform
pretty well.   As others have stated not everyone is able to have a Yagi.
Most of my non-USA QSOs are with stations running 100 Watts into a vertical,
ground plane, trap dipole or inverted v.   Seldom are these antennas high
unless atop an apartment building in UA land.   There is much to be said for
the simple approach to our hobby though I am a sinner.

                      73 Doug EI2CN

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