vertical ant

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M6MGF

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when we wove shortly i only have permission to now put up a vertical ant i have seen one on ebay for £95 it only needs to be 1ft above the ground to work so its 18ft i hope will not be too daunting but i was wondering if anyone could tell me how it might perform over my half size g5rv
 

ka3jjz

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Very important question - make and model of this vertical?

A G5RV and a vertical are two different sides of the antenna world - I very much doubt you can easily quantify one over the other. I would put good pounds on the vertical working better at times, the G5RV at others depending on how the signal arrives at your location, among other factors...Mike
 

LtDoc

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That appears to be a trapped vertical. If so, then I can't say that it would be such a bargain, at least for me. There's a big difference between being 'usable' and being a 'good' multi-band vertical. If you have a tuner with the capability, almost anything can be made 'usable'. That says nothing about how well it will work though. It's also a fact that a shortened loaded antenna (typical mobile HF antenna) can be usable in a fixed location. You only have to provide the 'other half' of that antenna, usually a decent ground system, and it should work as well as it would if mounted on a vehicle.
What is the length of that thing? If it's only something like 18 feet, don't expect it to work well on the lower HF bands. But then, a terrible antenna certainly beats no antenna.
- 'Doc

(Being stingy means that I would have a lot of trouble paying that much for a 'terrible' antenna. Sorry 'bout that.)
 

popnokick

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I had a vertical HF trapped antenna in the 70's when I was in Okinawa. I think it was a Hy-Gain model. Worked GREAT, however..... it was mounted on the flat concrete rooftop of my on-base quarters. So while it was more than 20 feet above the surrounding ground.... and I lived on a bit of a hill with clear horizon in most directions.... I also had a good ground plane in the concrete/rebar rooftop. I was able to work all of SE Asia and even the U.S frequently with it and a Kenwood TS-520 (100W).
Wherever you put the vertical, it is going to need ground radials to provide a good RF counterpoise to lower the angle of radiation and provide efficient HF operation. Read/plan carefully.
 

celsasser

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Yes a radial system will be needed for a ground mounted vertical, the more the better. For a ground plane (vertical mounted above earthen ground), you'll need a counterpoise of 3 or 4 radials for best results.

When I was on a temporary assignment for 2 years, the house I rented was in a HOA that didn't allow any permanently mounted outside antennas. But it did have a nice big deck that ran the full length of the house and was 20' wide. I crawled under it and stapled the radials across the beams and even bent them when needed, to make them as long as possible for 40 meters. The vertical sat in a large wooden barrel planter that set in the center of the deck, and I put an aluminum pipe in the middle of it before filling it with dirt. The radials ran up the side of the barrel and attached to the base of the vertical -- it worked great on all bands above 40 meters! It was a quasi vertical/ground plane I guess.

I added this after posting the 2 previous paragraphs:
Don't overlook tapping into other stuff that sets below the vertical for radials/counterpoise. The previously described arrangement worked a whole lot better after I tied into the aluminum termite flashing that ran around the base of the house!!!! (More counterpoise.)
 
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k9rzz

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Yes, the ground radial system you put in will make or break the vertical. If you can get it up off the ground, then you won't need as many.
 
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