Mike, I think you will find that the vertical is a better antenna for stations more than 2,000 miles from your QTH, differing results for stations between 1,000 and 2,000 miles and poorer for stations nearer than 1,000 miles. An NVIS attic antenna or a stealth low dipole may be a beneficial addition for nearby stations if you can hide it from your neighbors. Verticals work better where the ground is conductive in the far field because it helps the take off antenna. By the far field, I mean beyond the practical distance for radials. South Texas and Florida are usually good. Desert areas such as West Texas and Arizona not so good. Wet areas are good, dry areas are bad, conductive deposits in the earth are good, but no doubt you will probably not want to move to get better vertical conditions. Willis 'Cookie' Cooke, TDXS DX Chairman K5EWJ & Trustee N5BPS, USS Cavalla, USS Stewart
On Friday, September 12, 2014 11:36 AM, "mbyr...@tampabay.rr.com" <mbyr...@tampabay.rr.com> wrote: Good Day, I am currently using a modified Cushcraft R8 with my Elecraft K1. I had never considered a vertical before the R8 and this was a compromise with my neighbors. Originally I had a dipole but that was only for 40 meters. I bought the R8 with the idea of multiple bands without a tuner. Because of restrictions here, I was only allowed one antenna. I did a series of comparisons between the dipole and vertical. The dipole was much quieter with the vertical being quite noisy. With the noise on the vertical also came a lot of DX I couldn't hear on the dipole. This was not a very scientific comparison but it satisfied me. The dipole came down and the vertical went up on the roof. With the R8 I have worked other QRP stations with similar antennas on every continent. This only shows if conditions allow, you can work into anywhere. I do agree about the vertical being a compromise as a single element. It will do a great job laying down a signal at low angles which sometimes gives you an advantage. This all depends on your installation and ground losses. I would still prefer to have a phased array of verticals than have a beam on a tower. This is opposite of my opinion twenty years ago. Mike, AC4UR http://sunbyrdpress.blogspot.com ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to wrco...@yahoo.com ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
