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80 Meter Vertical
Here in the province of NL we hold a 80 meter net 3.740 at about 7pm local time. I had recent sucess with my new FT-857D with other bands and knowing that obtaining enough land from the land lord was quite impossible (I rent an apartment) I set forth on a 80 meter end fed vertical
the basic jist of it all is; from bottom to top... a short piece of 5/16" threaded aluminum pole to attach radials and as a support in the ground, then the connection aparatus for your coax, then another length of threaded aluminum pole, topped off with a coil and at the tip of the coil a telescopic antenna
Now with further details and pictures.......details after each picture
Showing the vertical next to a tree for camouflage, altho I know poor choice of color for wire for the coil, but camo tape can help you out there if need be. Speaking of which the coil is made out of 2" pvc pipe with caps on both ends drilled to allow the mounting of the 5/16 bolts to which the aluminum pole and telescopic antenna goes into. The coil is made out of 16 guage insulated wire with 100 turns. The coil is roughly 20" in length. The telescopic antenna is 38" in length when stretched out and when twisted properly it fits snug into the bolt on top of the coil. If you can get a longer whip do so, the more the merry.
To show more detail this is the vertical on the ground with telescopic antenna shortened, from here you can see a little more detail, each piece of the antenna had a 5/16" bolt on each end to fit together easily and disasemble for portable operation elsewhere quickly. The length of the bottom piece isnt big, just enough to stick into the ground as a base and enough left over to clip on the radials; which are 11 feet long, and the more you have the better. The length of the middle piece of aluminum (between coax connection and coil) is 51" long
From here you can see the coax conenction part. I used pvc pipe and caps like before, used a small piece of metal to mount the pl-259 hard ware mount (available at radio shack and other stores) and used a bolt straight through the pipe to secure it all so it doesnt move. I then connected the tip of the coax hardware connector to the top portion of the antenna and the mounting part of the coax hardware connector to the bottom part of the antenna (where the radials will be clipped on). For the connections I used plain run of the mill ring connectors, I reckoned they would stay in place and would cause less trouble when connected to the rest of the assembly.
Another view of the coax connection, your able to see where I bolted everything a little bit better here. Once all put together I used silicone sealant to seal up any place and contacts where water might become a problem. Altho not resonant on 3.740 net frequency it does go to 1.2 SWR with my MFJ-941D tuner.