Congrats, Ron. I, too, have worked Cook Islands with my K2. I also worked
XF4DL on all bands with the K2. I am using a ground mounted GAP Voyager
vertical. Verticals get a lot of bad press, but I am very happy with mines
performance. I'll admit that phased arrays and yagis mounted at least a
half wave length in heighth will outperform a single vertical with radials.
However, you can still be heard and many times beat the herd in the pileups
if you listen and find out where the DX is listening.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Person" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, November 23, 2006 10:31 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] DX on 40m
I recently took down a monster beam. Its performance was not much better
than my collection of dipoles - mainly due to its low height of 25 feet.
It was mounted on a short tower on top of my one-story garage. I couldn't
leave that short tower empty for the winter. I have built and used many
ground-mounted verticals. Never with any satisfactory performance. I
built a full-size 20 meter vertical and mounted it on the mast where the
beam had been. I attached 4 quarter-wave radials spaced evenly at 90
degrees. When I checked it with my MFJ 259 I was delighted to find
full-band coverage with an SWR below 1.5:1 or less. After an hour or so of
tuning around and comparing signals to my 3-band trap dipole, it was clear
that the new vertical was working extremely well. Low-angle signals were
clearly stronger on the vertical and overall performance was at least as
good as the dipole. An elevated vertical seems to be vastly better than a
ground-mounted vertical - my last one had 32 radials and was still not very
good. But maybe with a 120 radials like Ron's and a ground-mounted
vertical starts to perform.
72, Doug -- KØDXV
Craig D. Smith wrote:
Congratulations, Ron, on the South Cook Islands! Still on my "to get"
list.
Yes, ground mounted with lots of radials works well. But for those
intimidated with all the space and trenching needed for the radials,
there
is an easy option - raise the vertical and use a counterpoise wire. I
also
worked 40 meter DX this morning. Worked EH1YAQ in Spain from Colorado
with
my K2 at 10W with a BuddiPole vertical. Have the feedpoint raised up on
a
pole at 10 ft and used a single 32 ft counterpoise wire with the far end
on
a stake about 3 ft above the ground. This arrangement has been working
well
for me, and is easy and quick to set up on a portable basis.
Keep up the good DX!!
73
.... Craig AC0DS
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