[Antennas] Vertical

Sat Nov 26 02:27:25 EST 2005

Sean,
A vertical, sloper/inverted-vee and horizontal dipole all intercept incoming
wave angles differently. The best DX for each type of antenna will be at
different times of the particular band openings. Slopers tend to have the
most directional gain of the non-yagi style antennas, and that is a big
benefit to DX'g because it allows you to null other (noisy) areas not
desired. Verticals pull in the long stuff, but do so from all directions.
What sounds questionable to me, is installing a vertical antenna on PVC
(non-conductive) mast. I see from your ham-call you are near Lake Michigan,
so for at least the summertime, you do experience thunderstorms. While
having a metal support mast doesn't guarantee your antenna won't be damaged
or destroyed if struck by lightning, the absence of a conductive mast nearly
assures its destruction. To minimize the huge potential from antenna to
earth of a non-conductive mast, you would have to have an extremely low
impedance downconductor. Such as 4" wide heavy gage copper strap. That's
rather impractical, but there is no safe way to have a vertical antenna
without good connection to ground.
73,
Jack
Virginia Beach VA
>-----Original Message-----
>From: antennas-bounces at mailman.qth.net
>[mailto:antennas-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of w8okn at charter.net
>Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2005 12:36 AM
>To: antennas at mailman.qth.net
>Subject: Re: [Antennas] Vertical
>>>Thanks for the replies. They were very helpful!
>>Now, for those who may have gone from a 25 foot dipole to a vertical, does
>it REALLY help with getting more DX or is it more theoretical.
>>Sean
>W8OKN
>>>>> I am strongly considering putting up a 30 foot vertical with an automatic
>> antenna tuner at the base. My plan is to lay as many radials as
>possible.
>> Instead of just throwing a wire up into a tree, I'd like to support this
>> antenna with PVC pipe.
>>>> First, what affect will the PVC have on the vertical; loss, etc.
>>>> Has anyone used this idea and if so, I plan to top load the antenna to
>> improve efficiency. Is there any risk in having too high a
>voltage at the
>> end of the coil at the top?
>>>> Sean
>> W8OKN
>