When I was deciding on a vertical antenna it was the typical dilemma of what to pick. The first thing I did was look at the areas around my house to think of how much space I have. The other thing I had to take into consideration was what things may affect the swr on the antenna. A few examples are trees, houses and other metal objects. In my situation my backyard is very small. It is only maybe 23 feet from the house to the fence and about 26 feet wide. I do have a side yard, but have to watch out for the electrical lines to the house. Remember safety should always come first.
The next thing I decided to do was consider the cost of an antenna. I did my usual and started to check out the catalogs I have for Universal Radio, DX Engineering, Ham Radio Outlet, MFJ and AES Electronics. All I could say was what do I do next. I looked at what verticals would do a good job and take up as little room as possible. I did not want to put anything up on the roof, because I do not want to put any holes in the new roof. I would have to deal with my better half and that's as far as I will go with that. I thought about some verticals that would be fairly easy to erect without any climbing.
My choices came down to a few different considerations. Low cost and easiest to install as well as what bands will the antenna cover. Also what has the best bandwidth. I liked the MFJ-1798, Hustler 6BTV and the DX Engineering MBVE-1 HF antenna. The MFJ-1798 was nice ,because it covered a wide variety of bands from 2 meters to 80 meters. The only drawback was it is quite a kit to put together. The Hustler 6BTV also covers quite a few bands, is much easier to erect and has some accessories to cover some additional bands. The DX Engineering MBVE-1 also seemed fairly easy to erect and covers quite a few bands and a antenna tuner will be needed.What I did next was to check out some of the sites for reviews on the antennas. I went to EHAM.net http://www.eham.net/ and looked at all the reviews to see what other hams were saying. They all seemed to have pretty good reviews. I do have to say that I did not buy all these antennas at one time. In fact when I had purchased the MFJ-1798 I had injured my back and was out of commission for a good six months. I also checked out youtube for any videos I could find on these antennas.
I decided at the present time to hold up on installing the MFJ-1798 due to it`s size. The other factor now in the mess is that we are going to look for a different house with some property. So once again I had to decide on putting up the 6BTV or the MBVE-1. If I put up the MBVE-1 I would have to put in a pipe with cement and it would end up close to the house. I can fit some radials in the ground, but I don`t want to make anything too permanent.
Well I finally decided to go with the 6BTV and found a place that is maybe 15 feet away from the house. So my better half held the pipe and I used the sledge hammer to pound it in the ground as per the instructions. As usual the weather has stopped the install for the present time. I do have the tilt feature and the ground radial plate. I am thinking about the different types of ground radial installations I might try. I have looked at ground radials, a ground screen as well as some other ideas to try. That is what the hobby is all about experiment and see where it goes.
I would like to mention a few pieces of equipment you might acquire that will make the install much easier. First I would advise anyone to purchase or borrow an SWR Antenna Analyzer. You can check out one of my other posts on Antenna Analyzers. I would also recommend using at least four guy ropes for some extra stability. They can be purchased at either http://www.dxengineering.com/search/part-type/rope?tw=rope&sw=Rope or the Wireman http://www.thewireman.com/ .
I would like to add that there are many good vertical antennas out there on the market and they do a very good job. I would also like to note that these antennas do not have to be ground mounted. They can be mounted in an elevated installation. My advise would be to go to the manufacturers website and look up any information. You can generally find an instruction manual in a pdf file format.I would just like to say Thank You for Reading. 73s from Dan KC2YTI
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