Before this gets moved, for what it's worth, get a good tower and don't place it up on top of the hill. More work for little benefit. Get a good antenna. Sirio makes some decent antennas. The Sirio vector 4000 is an awesome antenna. Some say they are weak, I beg to differ. Mine has seen some bad weather and wind as well. And it still looks like the day I placed it up almost 2 years ago. Granted it's not a long time, but long enough to get an idea of whether it will fail or break in windy conditions. Good coax is another thing most overlook. Don't buy the cheap rg8x and expect it to last. LMR400 made by companies like Times Microwave, Andrew, Commscope, Belden, Eupen, Davis RF, and even Shireen, make some good coax. Also look into 1/2" superflex. Andrew sells this as well as Commscope and Eupen. They get quality connectors. Yes it costs more. But it's will last a very long time and has low loss. Use 100ft or less if possible to keep loss down. Get your antenna up to at least 30-40ft to the base of the antenna. Even if it's in a bit of a low spot, you'd be surprised at how well things can work. Also a moxon or a beam antenna would be a good setup. Also a good EMP/Surge arrestor is a must.
As far as antennas go, again Sirio, Maco, Shockwave (USA), Mr. Coily, or if you can get one, the I10K are all great antennas. With the Sirio line of antennas, the 827, 2016, or the vector 4000 are good antennas as well.
Only issue with the vector 4000 is its length. At nearly 28ft in length, they are a heck of an antenna, but can be susceptible to wind damage. The Shockwave, Mr. Coily, I10k, and even the Sirio 827 and 2016 are all HD antenna that will handle some heavy winds. Not sure how bad your area is as far as wind and weather goes, so choose one that will meet your requirements. Any 5/8 or longer antenna should work well, the Sirio vector 4000 is a 7/8 wave antenna.
Now as far as coax goes, like I said, you get what you pay for 99.9% of the time. If you want good coax, any of the above mentioned companies have great LMR400 and larger coax. Is it overkill, yes. But will it last a very long time, heck yes! With your tower being 40ft, if you placed a 22-28ft antenna on it, you're going to be pretty high up. Take Off Angle, (TOA), is something you want to really look at. And also remember a vertical antenna is better for local and DX use, while most of the time a 3 element beam or moxon antenna are more for DX. As far as surge arrestors go, Huber Suhner, Polyphaser, Andrew, and some other companies make good ones. Stay away from the cheap ones on eBay. They suck!! You can find the Huber Suhner and even the Polyphaser surge arrestors for good prices if you look around. If you truly want to place the antenna at the top of the hill you have, use a larger coax type like LDF4-50A. This is very low loss coax and will work well for runs of 100+ feet with not much loss.
Like I said in the beginning, you get what you pay for, and depending on where you live and how the weather and wind are, will narrow your choices. Do some research about all the antennas I posted. Some can be quite expensive, but are made with quality materials and will handle heavy winds of up to 100 mph.
My Sirio vector 4000 I did perform some modding to I guess you could say. I added heavy duty heat shrink from the bottom joint to the top. All about 8-10" pieces. This has seemed to help with the bending of the radiating element. But then again, my antenna is only 27ft or so to the base of the antenna. I'll also note that this antenna was given to me as a gift. It was new, but a gift none the less, so I am not put anything other than a lot of time and effort if it does break.
I also use an Icom 746 as my radio. With about 10 watts of power on SSB, yes 10 watts, most days I am able to talk to people locally out to about 60-70 miles on SSB. I don't use AM much at all so I can't really speak on the distance of that mode. And also I have made contacts across the world with with it. From Australia to Russia and about everywhere in between, minus the Middle East.
Anyways, hope this helps some and like I said, depending on what you want to spend and how well your antenna system works is up to you. I have tried to lay out most of the things besides grounding and such, but that would be a whole new thread. Be safe and take your time and research before you buy. I'm sure there will be many that disagree with me, but having been a retired cell site tech of 17yrs., I have a decent understanding of what it takes to make a good radio base station as for years all I did was install equipment for Ericsson and Nokia as well as a few other companies, for most all major carriers. I then got into trouble shooting for about 4 years before retiring and taking a job with the FAA being a repairman. I now perform VFR & IFR certifications on planes.
Anyways, enough BS about me, and back to the subject. Like I said, research some of the things I have listed and you should get a good idea of what you will need or want. Hope it helps and have a great day sir.
73 and God Bless.
222 Daytona Beach, FL
Sean.
PS. Excuse me if I left anything out or misspelled something. Im still trying to wake up LOL.
