[Elecraft] K-Line / ZeroFive Antennas

[James Bennett]

Hi Craig - Yes, understood about the radials - I’ve had other verticals before and found very good performance - providing a lot of radials are used. I’ve got no problem laying out a LOT of them, as the grass grows pretty fast here in this part of Idaho and will cover them up in no time. We'll be living in a development on the edge of a lot of farm land (no, not potatoes - alfalfa, corn, sugar beets!) - miles from the noisy city environment. All underground electric services, too. So I’m hopeful my QRN levels will be low. Right now living in an apartment complex with several hundred units. I have a Buddistick mounted on a balcony railing and have a solid S9 noise level 24x7 on my IC-705. :-(

I’ve also used my KAT500 for years at another QTH in CA with an 88 foot long doublet fed with 600 ohm ladder line and the tuner worked great. But I’m wondering how the KAT500 (or the K3 internal tuner) handles something like the ZeroFIve. So, hopefully someone on this list is also using one… :-)

73, Jim / K7TXA

> On Jun 28, 2021, at 11:24 AM, Craig Smith <ac0ds at sent.com> wrote:
> 
> Jim …
> 
> How well it “works” will be almost entirely dependent on the radial system you have installed and on the local noise level.   I’d recommend at least 32 radials - as long as you have space for. On or in ground is fine.    If you do that, the performance and patterns should be approximately like the charts shown in all the handbooks for verticals over a ground plane.
> 
> If you are asking about the ability of the tuners in the Elecraft products to accommodate the mismatch on each band, that is a different question.   In general Elecraft’s tuners will handle up to a 10:1 SWR. 
> 
> 
> 73  Craig   AC0DS
> 
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>