April 3, 2019 - Vernon, British Columbia, Canada
Lots of fun was had today tuning up Brad VE7WBM's new HF vertical antenna, a Hustler 5-BTV.
The 5-BTV is a 5 band vertical HF fixed station antenna workable on 10, 15, 20, 40 and 80 metres.
Mike VE7KPZ joined Brad and daughter Josie to tune up each section of this trapped vertical antenna.
Scans with Mike's RigExpert AA230-Zoom antenna analyzer showed that the antenna needed to be shortened to move its tune upwards.
What we actually discovered was that we had to lower the antenna mount down on the mount pole so that the bottom of the antenna was pretty much level with the ground.
With this change, 10, 15, 20 and 40 all came into line. However, we're still not done. Brad will now have to get a hacksaw out and cut off the excess mount pole that sticks up above the antenna base.
We'll then re-check the tune and finally, adjust the length of the 80m whip to get the tune for that band into the area Brad wants to work. The 3:1 - 3:1 dip is only 80kHz wide for 80m, so with all other band tunes finalized, we'll then shorten (with the cut-off wheel on the grinder) the 80m whip.
Brad also recently completed his feedline routing work. Instead of going underground, he's found a routing through the shrubbery and up under the soffits of the house and finally down to the lightning arrestor before heading into the house via a newly drilled hole.
We are very pleased to report that Brad's YL is happy with the routing as well as the antenna's stealth. As well, Brad is down to under 1.2:1 on all bands aside from 80m (to be tuned at a later date).
If you are interested in setting up a cost-effective, stealthy HF antenna, this might be an option for you. Chat Brad up at the next club meeting or on VE7RSS if you'd like more info on the setup.
It was a fun morning,
Mike VE7KPZ