Vertical antennas really work!
Since we somehow don't get any contributions from Slovak and Czech radio amateurs, I have nothing else left, just ask Jason Hissong (N8XE) for permission to translate and publish his contribution, which appeared on www.eham.net. I got a practically instantaneous response from him, in which his YES was, he was actually very happy, that his article will also appear here and that he can share his experiences with us. I will ask others from other parts of the world not to be fooled and to send us their contributions, which we are happy to publish. Thank you Jason Hissong (N8XE) for your permission! We are happy to publish your article on our Slovak HAM portal, translated by Oliver Bross MW3SDO.
A few words at the beginning...
One day I didn't have much to do, so I just looked at the articles on www.eham.net out of boredom, where I came across an interesting post by Štefan Katz (WB2WIK), which I was very interested in. I thought about his words and said to myself, that I have to try it too. I had a GAP Eagle DX vertical antenna before, which did not work very well, probably a fault in the connector. I decided to try vertical again, but now go about it with reason. My antenna farm has so far consisted of an Alpha Delta DXLB+ antenna installed as an inverted V. This dipole allowed me to work on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10M and on WARC bands with a tuner. Soon, he should join me as well Hexbeam, which will only be for bands 10, 12, 15, 17 a 20m. But I would like something, which would allow me to work on 30, 40 and 80 meters. Štefan wrote in his post, that vertical is a good "go-to" antenna. I am also an occasional contestant, and the vertical could be a good second antenna for me. So I decided to try again and share my experience with the whole HAM community. So how did it start…
I stopped at a local radio shop where I bought a Hustler 6BTV antenna. I also bought 600m of wire, and a few other little things, which are necessary when mounting the radials to the antenna, further 1,2 meter steel pipe. I brought everything home and started preparing individual radials, specifically 68 radials in length 6,096 meters. My desk helped me with that, I wrapped the wire around his legs and worked out the required length. I did it 68 times and the movie that was playing on TV helped me. The next day I woke up really, really exhausted.
Next, he attached small rings to the ends of the wires. But that was my first mistake. First, it was quite strenuous, my hands hurt a lot, the muscles were resigning. Secondly, I did not solder them, which would be very convenient when installing individual radials.
68 6-meter radials
There is a tradition throughout the long history of amateur radio, that if the antenna is to be installed, the day must be cold and rainy, exactly as it was when I started this work! Perfect, I told myself. In the following picture you can see and have an idea of what I did with the already prepared radials. I created the so-called. a ring of one-piece radials using nuts and bolts. In the beginning everything was fine, gradually as I added more and more radials, I came across another error, which I mentioned at the beginning. The grass where I made my radial ring was pretty tall and I couldn't move it anymore, I often tripped over individual radials, which were being torn out of small rings, because they were not soldered. No hroza. I couldn't stand it. I coughed it up after attaching about 31 radials.
Zoom in on a homemade "radial ring"
First impressions
After installing the individual radials, I connected the coax cable from the base of my antenna to the Ameritron RCS-4 (antenna switch), so that I can make the first comparisons. I must note, that most of the time I received the same strong signals from nearby and distant DX stations in certain directions. The south and north stations had better signals on my dipole, because its "zeros" are in the north and south. One evening I was listening to W1AW on 20m with a dipole, on which he had an excellent signal. I connected later to the vertical and W1AW was deep in the noise, very hard to hear. A few minutes later I heard ZS6 on 20m, which was clearly stronger on the vertical than on the dipole, with a difference of about 1S.
With the vertical, I have made connections with 5C7N so far, HC8N, UN6P, HC4T at 20M, CY0MM, YV5OIE, PJ2/W0CG na 30M. It comes out to about the same compared to my dipole. So the power of the vertical is equal to the power of the dipole (valid at this point). Nothing particularly suitable for writing, but still nothing, what should i be ashamed of. The vertical allows me to work with those stations with which I would have a problem with the dipole, mainly because of its directionality. My conclusion: vertical is a very good antenna, mainly in connection with a dipole.
Photo with my vertical and 31 radials.
I don't really like my creation the most, especially regarding the radial ring, I would rather take some more elegant solution. I posted a question on the QRP-L newsgroup and was told to look at the Comtek Systems site (http://www.comteksystems.com). They should have already prepared a ring for radials with 60 holes in the offer. And it would also include the iron rings that are needed to mount the radials on the ring. The instructions say, that you can put up to two radials on one ring, which overall does up to 120 radials. The price was not high, overall only $34.95.
Comtek Systems product photo – RR-1 Radial Ring (photo courtesy of Comtek Systems.)
But I found out, that there was practically no difference between a homemade radial ring and a purchased one, which I actually assumed. But the purchased one had its advantages, and above all the ease of installation and everything looked much nicer.
Adding the rest of the radials
I picked a gorgeous snow day to install the rest of the radials. It was fun watching my dog run around in the snow while I lay on the ground installing individual radials – in gloves, warm clothes, heavy coat. However, I was comfortable and warm. It took me a while anyway 3 next hours, until I was done with all the radials. They were together now 59. I eagerly ran to the radio station again...
I turned on my TRCV and switched to vertical. It was already dark, so 20m was closing slowly, from 30m to 80m, however, it was very lively. I looked at the speed of the stations broadcasting on 40m. Some had S and less compared to the dipole. I've only heard US operators though. However, the remaining stations were slightly more audible on the vertical compared to the dipole. But where I noticed a big difference? Na 15m! I heard a really big difference in listening to the vertical compared to the dipole. I was really very pleasantly surprised at the difference heard in the higher bands.
But everything has a reason. Individual radials were 6 m long, which is more than 1/4 wavelength at 10, 15 a 20 meters. On 30, 40 a 80 meters, the length was shorter than a quarter of a wavelength. Performance indicates, that vertical is better for higher bands than for lower ones. Not, I'm not disappointed, because most of the time the signals are the same on the vertical compared to the dipole anyway. But it just happened to me, that I was listening to an English station on 40m, whose signal was better on the vertical than on the dipole.
Final evaluation
In my opinion, a vertical antenna is an excellent addition to any antenna farm. At the time I wrote this post, I also installed Hexbeam on my mast. I have to state, that Hexbeam is much better than vertical. In practice, however, the vertical antenna is better on the lower bands, especially on 30 meters. I made some nice connections with T97M and 3B8CF on vertical a few days ago. However, one thing must be kept in mind, as for an effectively vertical antenna - the need to install radials, as much as you can (until 120). If you do this, you will be extremely satisfied with your vertical antenna! I am!
