[TVARC] New flagpole with 6-BTV antenna at K8XR

Tue Apr 30 17:32:44 EDT 2024

FB Rusty.  I also suffered arcing on 80 with the cap in place.  I used a
20-foot section of schedule 40 3-inch diameter PVC from an outfit on 301 -
can't remember the name.  Too bad I did not know about the outfit in
Leesburg or I would have gotten a lighter pipe.

The 6BTV works great with a decent radial field.  Sort of becoming the de
facto standard for us HOA prisoners, hi.

73 de Ed

On Tue, Apr 30, 2024 at 2:42 AM w3us at casa-aloha.net <w3us at casa-aloha.net>
wrote:

> Beautiful work Larry.  Very well  done, and superbly documented.  I know
> your hard work will be rewarded with lots of DX, and 5-9+ QSOs.
>
> FWIW, here are some lessons learned from my 6-BTV flagpole experience:
>
> 1.  I sourced my PVC from SiteOne Landscaping Supply in Leesburg,
> purchasing a 20 ft section of 2.5” CL200.  This class of PVC, used for
> irrigation, has a thin wall and is much lighter than hardware store PVC.
> It comes in white and purple.  Don’t accidentally buy the purple, like I
> did.  :-(
>
> 2.  Acetone will easily remove the manufacture’s stamped lettering from
> the PVC
>
> 3.  After two attempts, I discarded the flagpole cap due to severe arcing
> on 80 meters (see photo).  I was only running 600 watts CW.
>
> Again, a terrific job.  One you can be very proud of.
>
> 73,
> Rusty - W3US
>
>
>
>
>
> On Apr 28, 2024, at 22:27, Larry Sheridan <larry10782 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Howdy all:
>
> As requested, pix of the new flagpole antenna here at K8XR in The Villages
> FL.  Many thanks to
> the TVARC club members & others who volunteered their knowledge & tips on
> flagpole antennas.
>
> A lot of test-fitting to see what would work with what, started out with
> 2" white PVC,
> soon learned that -
>  - standard Hustler clamps won't fit in 2" PVC, ears are too long
>  - standard heater hose clamps fit in 2" but then the traps won't slide in
>  - have to go to 2-1/2" PVC which is a special order item due to low demand
>  - 3" PVC would work & be cheaper but want to keep the weight &
> wind-loading down
>
> First order of 2-1/2" was eBay, lotsa $$$, opened box to find transparent
> PVC (!)  Would
> work OK but not very low-profile, used it for the test-fits, these were 8'
> lengths.  For final
> build, ordered white 2-1/2", ended up with (2) 20' lengths (!) from Ace
> Hardware, used 1.
>
> 2-1/2" PVC ends up being a nice slip-fit down over the 6-BTV, the hose
> clamps are staggered
> around the joints such that the antenna is kept centered in the PVC & thus
> centered over the
> mount pipe, to minimize or eliminate any tendency to lean.  The 2-1/2" is
> also a slip-fit over the
> high-power 75M resonator, using 2" would require the use of the low-power
> mobile coil.
>
> None of the components in this system - 6-BTV, DXE tilt base, etc - are
> designed for a flagpole's
> weight & wind-loading, so additional strengthening was added everywhere it
> was feasible -
>  - the ground mounting pipe was upsized to 2" galvanized steel, set 40"'
> in the ground concrete
>  - the DX Engineering tilt base frame was drilled to take a third clamp to
> the ground mounting pipe
>  - the Hustler antenna base & DXE tilt bracket were drilled to use 8 bolts
> for assembly instead of 4
>  - the Hustler base had 3/16" aluminum side straps Heliarc weld added to
> make it into a channel section
>  - the DXE optional double-wall tubing first pipe section on the base was
> ordered & installed
>
> The beefing-up of the Hustler base is to accommodate the weight of the PVC
> pipe, which just rests
> on the top of the base but is not attached or fastened down, the 2-1/2"
> coupler is a slip-fit over the
> base top insulator & centers the PVC assembly on the base.
>
> The rest of the assembly & installation was straightforward & followed the
> DXE instructions and
> recommendations with the exception of the ground radials, we used 17 gauge
> galvanized steel
> electric fence wire, strong & cheap, $35 for a 1/4 mile spool, almost a
> lifetime supply.  I prepped
> the wire with a few knife strokes to thin the zinc, then crimp & solder
> the ring terminal.  Gail did a
> lot of the radial placement work, ended up using a battery lawn edger to
> cut a slot in the grass,
> lay the wire in, use DXE hold down clips and then walk on the slot to
> close it up, put in 32 radials.
> The lawn's been mowed twice since the radials went in, and they're already
> essentially invisible.
>
> To add some stability, (3) 80lb monofilament fishing line "guy wires" run
> from about the 13' level
> to the front corners of the house, they protect against winds from SSW
> thru NNW, not perfect but
> better than nothing.  The pole attachment is a short piece of PVC, slit to
> slide over the pole and
> cemented in place, each line makes 2 turns around the pipe & tied, the
> short collar holds them up.
>
> 2 runs of DXE RG-8/X and 1 run of 8-wire rotor cable are in the 1/2"
> electrical PVC, to accommodate
> a possible future remote antenna tuner, these were a tight fit, it worked
> but shoulda been 3/4" PVC.
> The DXE 1:1 Line Isolator choke and its mounting shelf were included in
> the system, may be a bit of
> overkill but put it in anyway.
>
> The fiberglass landscaping base cover rock came from Home Depot, a small
> jig saw took care of the
> needed cuts easily, no fuss, easy to handle, weighs about 15 pounds or
> so.
>
> System checkout & antenna tuning was a surprise, as shown in the Excel
> file, who knew that a PVC
> pipe cover would detune a trap vertical antenna so drastically.  Ended up
> having to tune the antenna
> off-frequency such that adding the cover would then bring it into
> resonance where desired. I might
> do a little more touch-up on it in the future, as the footnotes on the
> spreadsheet show.
>
> Overall the system performs pretty good, on 75 & 40 it's picking up a
> fairly strong noise source every
> 4 KHz that's annoying, some sleuthing is called for, the higher bands have
> been working into Central
> and South America and Europe well, and having more band choices again than
> just 40 is really nice.
>
> Total system costs for the flagpole antenna came to about 2,700, not
> counting the Hustler 6-BTV which
> was already on hand, and not counting the installation of the ground
> mounting pipe in concrete, nor
> burying the 1/2" conduit .  We were going to redo the island landscaping
> anyway, so it was just a matter
> of scheduling to have the landscaper do the pipe work for us for the
> flagpole install.
>
> Any questions, feel free to ask.
>
> Larry Sheridan  K8XR
> 307-630-5697
>
>
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