IC-735 and verticals
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I'm going to be building a 10M vertical to use with our Icom 735. Right now, we're using a dipole and an antenna tuner. I'll let you know how it works out when I get the vertical on the air.
K7MEM
Member
I must have missed this, when it was originally posted. I guess that's because I just skim the forums mostly.
Anyway, yes, I use a vertical with my IC-735. I mostly use my multiband trap/fan dipole, but I sometimes switch to the vertical. I have a Hustler 5BTV. DX Engineering makes them now, but I bought mine when Hustler still made them.
A vertical antenna, with a good ground system, has a low take-off angle which is good for DX. I have mine mounted at the top of a 18 foot section of 2" iron pipe. I use 4 sloping radials for each band, 40, 20, 15, and 10 Meters. I never used 80 Meters much because the bandwidth is very small. But even with the other bands, I use a tuner to give me flexibility.
The iron pipe is secured at the base with a fence corner, which is also made from iron pipe. The pipe is part of my horse fencing and is very sturdy. The spring, in my area (high desert), is prone to lots of wind. It's common to have 40-50 MPH winds for days on end. But the main support at the base of the iron pipe is all it needs. There is a slight bend, in the pipe and the antenna aluminum, when the wind is blowing, but nothing much. It's been up, in that position, for about 4 years. I don't bring it down often because of the weight of the iron pipe.
The only issue I had with the height, was when the 80 Meter resonator exploded during a lightening storm. It apparently built up too much static electricity. The discharge from the explosion also took out a tuner. It welded all of the capacitor plates together, and burnt a hole in the tuner box. Nothing else was hurt.
I also have a 20-30 year old Radio Shack CB antenna. The antenna is a vertical dipole and is around 18 feet in height. I use a stub match at the feed point to make it match on 10 meters. The stub match, configured differently, can also be used to move the antenna to 12 meters. Overall, it works well.
For me, the difference between using the vertical, as opposed to the horizontal, is noise. With my multi band trap/fan dipole the S meter doesn't budge. All I hear is some background hiss (you know, the big bang :roll
. But with the vertical antennas, there is a reading of 1-2 S-Units. During our Monsoon season (July-Sept) the noise gets so high that the antenna is almost unusable. You can get static crashes that will knock your headphones off.Martin - K7MEM
For me, the difference between using the vertical, as opposed to the horizontal, is noise. With my multi band trap/fan dipole the S meter doesn't budge. All I hear is some background hiss (you know, the big bang :roll
Not on HF. It's called the Cosmic *Microwave* Background Radiation for a reason. There's plenty more random hiss from the atmosphere including the ionosphere that any Cosmic Background radiation which is at millimeter wavelengths. Waaaay up there in frequency.
K7MEM
Member
You did see the Smiley in my posting, didn't you? I often forget to put one on, when I am making a joke. It was only meant to indicate that noise in my area is very low.
Martin - K7MEM
I used a GAP Challenger DX vertical antenna when I had my IC-735 and it worked perfectly.
The 735 is just a transceiver and doesn't care if the antenna connected to it is a vertical ground plane, vertical dipole, or a horizontal dipole, so long as the impedance is matched properly. Both types of antenna work well but they are better at some things that other things. Choose the one that works best for what you want to do. No antenna is perfect for *everything*.
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