Small HF DX Vert

[MI0GFU]

Hi,
Id like your views on which one you would choose and why given:

Required criteria is; good DX Global contacts, antenna is to be mounted on a brick wall gable 20' up with no ( radials ), in an inner city enviornment? Icom718 TX with 100W.

Force12 Sigma 5 or the Delux Buddistick Vert Deluxe Package

All good advice welcome.

Berne MI0GFU + Ei1544

[W8NSI]

Hi,
Id like your views on which one you would choose and why given:

Required criteria is; good DX Global contacts, antenna is to be mounted on a brick wall gable 20' up with no ( radials ), in an inner city enviornment? Icom718 TX with 100W.

Force12 Sigma 5 or the Delux Buddistick Vert Deluxe Package

All good advice welcome.

Berne MI0GFU + Ei1544

You are going to need some kind of counterpoise for them. Lacking that, you might expect to not have very good performance. Sounds like you have a problem with space to put up an antenna?

You would actually do better to investigate a magnetic loop antenna. Small physical size, can be tuned to lowest swr, rotatable.
Here are a couple links to investigate.

http://www.standpipe.com/w2bri/
http://www.geocities.com/gw0tqm/magloop/magloop.htm
http://www.qsl.net/mnqrp/Loop/Mag_Loops.htm
http://www.g4fon.net/MagLoop.htm

These will get you started. Note that the loop does not need to be tubing. Wire is used in some cases and it seems to be successful.

[G0GQK]

I wouldn't go for either. Have a look at the Cushcraft range and check out e-ham, every vertical antenna manufactured is listed there. Is it not possible to have a vertical antenna on a short mast and on a support which you can lower to the ground ? An antenna needs to be accessible if you need to make adjustments.

G0GQK

[k8jd]

I gazed into my quartz crystal ball for "global DX" with a small anenna and see only tears and disapointment until the solar activity has risen.

[KC2TAU]

I used a Cushcraft MA6V(this model requires no radials)vertical about 10 feet off the ground with an Icom IC-703 with 10 watts and have contacted as far as Russia on 20 SSB with it. Its a solid antenna that after a bit of tuning and fiddling has given me fine results.

[K0RGR]

I'm not familiar with the Sigma 5, but we use the Force 12 vertical dipoles for 40 meters, and they work surprisingly well for their size. They've been popular with DXpeditioners for their 'performance per pound' quotient.

I've used the Cushcrafts, and they are also surprisingly good vertical performers on 40 meters and higher. I had one that developed an open circuit that I could never find after several years of operation, but I would not hesitate to buy another one, if I could not manage some kind of radials.

[N5MOA]

Cushcraft R-5 works pretty well, for a vertical. It does have four radials, seems like they are about 4 ft long, mounted at the bottom of the antenna. Mine was mounted on a 15 ft pole, vs my inverted v at 30 ft. There were occasions where the R-5 worked better, mainly 17m and 12m, but usually it was down a little bit from the inverted v. However, I don't think the R-5 is a current model, so I may have been no help at all.

[k7mh]

"small HF" and "good DX Global contacts" are mutually exclusive terms!
Good luck!!

[ki4twb]

Force 12. Why? NO TRAPS. It's closer to a full sized vertical dipole (using end loading) than the buddy sticks. But take it with a grain of salt since I've used neither.

[G8ADD]

Bernie, I would suggest the Moonraker EVX4000. This does need radials but you could make wire radials and hide them in the guttering or under the soffit. At £119.95 it is probably the cheapest option other than homebrew or second-hand!

73

Brian G8ADD

[MI0GFU]

Hi All,

Just a word of thanks to all contributors, some great advice there.

Thread Closed.

Berne :)