I have been running a Butternut HF9V. I recently retuned it after adding the
160 meter mod, and obtained the same results I did when I first installed it.
Basically it appears to be a couple of feet short on 10 meters with minimum
SWR at 28.9 MHz and long on 17 meters with SWR not falling below 2.8. I am
considering buying a 72" 3/8" tube to extend it for 10 meters, but I'm stumped
on 17 meters. Has anyone encountered this and found a fix? I have a good
ground system with plenty of 30' radials, and the antenna works very well, but
I would like to get the SWR down.

73,

Phil - N1KI

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Hi Phil

My antenna tuned perfectly until I added the 160 coil, then I had to
retune the whole thing and had lots of woes until I finally found that
sweet spot on each band where the SWR was down where it belonged.

It has been a long while and I don't remember, but I did have to make
a NEW feed coil in place of that enameled wire one that was more than
twice as many turns, same diameter, before anything came close to
tuning up right. I used the same gauge wire as the original, just
made it with twice as many turns, spacing was closer also. I did find
it's best to leave this new coil on a tube because it gets bumped
easily. What I did was cut the bottom out of a plastic cylinder about
14 inches in diameter and placed that around the antenna base. A
little round-up inside the container from time to time and a box of
salt kept the weeds out.

TTUL
Gary

Thanks Gary, I initially tried tuning with the original coil in place and
received a 5-1-9 report from 122 miles away. The lower three bands tuned
well, but I figured I must be passing 160 right into the ground system. I
totally removed the enameled coil and only 80 would not come below 1.7. 40
and 160 matched very well, so I think I can get by with that. Leaving the
coil off has resulted in 5-9-9's from everyone I called so far on 160, so
perhaps I was right about radiating into the ground.So far, it seems to be
doing a great job.

The problem with 10 and 17 meters has been with me since the antenna was new
and before I put the 160 kit on it. I have had more pressing issues and had
forgotten about it until I retuned the antenna after adding the 160 coil. I
have heard other comments made about not getting a good match on 17 meters.

I was hoping someone out here had found a simple fix because the antenna works
so well as is that I can't see putting a lot of effort into fixing something
so minor.

73,

Phil - N1KI


In article , am
wrote:
Hi Phil

My antenna tuned perfectly until I added the 160 coil, then I had to
retune the whole thing and had lots of woes until I finally found that
sweet spot on each band where the SWR was down where it belonged.

It has been a long while and I don't remember, but I did have to make
a NEW feed coil in place of that enameled wire one that was more than
twice as many turns, same diameter, before anything came close to
tuning up right. I used the same gauge wire as the original, just
made it with twice as many turns, spacing was closer also. I did find
it's best to leave this new coil on a tube because it gets bumped
easily. What I did was cut the bottom out of a plastic cylinder about
14 inches in diameter and placed that around the antenna base. A
little round-up inside the container from time to time and a box of
salt kept the weeds out.

TTUL
Gary


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Hi Phil

I guess I was one of the few that didn't have any problems with 17
tuning up either before or after the 160 coil. But if I recall, I
have it scrunched up real tight too. Like I said, been awhile, but I
hope to be back at it again before winter sets in. I just moved to a
new house in a new state and know I'll have to retune that thing after
moving it.

Good Luck with it!

TTUL
Gary

Ok Gary, thanks for the info. I may get ambitious enough to retune the thing
using the right equipment. So far I have just used the exciter output. I
suppose realistically speaking, 17 through 10 will not matter much in the next
few years. The thing is impressive on 160, though, and that was the main
idea.

73,

Phil - N1KI


In article , am
wrote:
Hi Phil

I guess I was one of the few that didn't have any problems with 17
tuning up either before or after the 160 coil. But if I recall, I
have it scrunched up real tight too. Like I said, been awhile, but I
hope to be back at it again before winter sets in. I just moved to a
new house in a new state and know I'll have to retune that thing after
moving it.

Good Luck with it!

TTUL
Gary


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Hi Phil

The bandwidth on 160 was so narrow it was basically only good on one
single frequency for me. Which was OK, I set it for a specific
frequency I used twice a week.

All of my other 160 work was done on that Linear Loaded Inverted Vee
that I put up. I had pigtails on it and set each leg at a different
frequency and it still worked OK for me.

As far as the HF9V I was and am still very impressed with how well
this antenna has worked for me. Especially in the confines of my
suburban yard with antenna restrictions up the wazoo.

But FINALLY I moved to a new state, I live in a valley between the
Cumberland Plateau and the Smoky Mountains, due to the hill behind my
house, sunup isn't until around 9AM. But it is a very high hill and
THAT is where I plan on building my antenna farm.
I've made many calculations and studied the lay of the land several
times, it looks like the ideal spot for this area.
My only concern will be the coax loss in running over 600 feet of coax
up the side of the hill. I would need 9913 for the upper bands.

I'm also looking into the possibly of using perhaps a 6 inch wide
ladder line. But I'm not savvy enough to know if I can run coax out
of the shack to ladder line for 500 feet then back to coax to feed the
antenna towers. This is something I will have to study up on again
before attempting it.

I may try a trick a neighbor about a mile away has done. We have
extremely tall poplar trees here. He cleaned the branches and topped
one of these poplars and then installed a 25 foot tall mast at the top
of one of them for his VHF/UHF antennas. He said it's been up there
for over 5 years and the new branches that sprouted have not come
close to the antenna yet. So that might be one alternative for me to
try also.

The HF9V will be ground mounted at the dividing line between my front
lot and my back lot, which is only partially up the back hill in a
flat clearing where I have plenty of room to run my overkill radials.
At my last home in St. Louis, I had over 3,500 feet of radials, some
extending through neighbors yards until they reached the streets on
the other side of their houses.
And, where backyards meet, many had those stockade fences and they
allowed me to run dipoles across their backyards about 10 feet above
the fence lines by installing 25 foot poles affixed to the fence
posts. POed the telephone and cable TV people who had to watch for my
lines when working on the utility pole mounted services within their
easements. I was not within their easement so they couldn't just
knock them down and leave them laying on the ground, hi hi.....

It was so long ago, I don't remember which bands these apply to, but
those horizontal metal strips on the antenna. On the upper one (after
installing the 160 coil) I took a pair of alligator clips and a piece
of wire about 4 inches long (2 inches each side) and experimented by
making this top bar a little wider. I do remember it worked for
whatever reason I was doing it. So I drilled two small holes in each
end and laced a new copper wire through this allowing about 1-3/4 inch
extending beyond the natural length of this horizontal antenna member.
But I believe this may have been to use an out of ham band frequency
for our emergency communications. The antenna was up for several
years, so you tend to forget things you had to do when it was
initially installed.
I never had problems with it, so I never messed with it.

It seems there are some photos on my web page somewhere, but I don't
know if they include the HF9V or not.
The URL is http://archimedes.galilei.com/raiar if you want to have a
look around and see. I'm quite lax on updating my web page, and it
seems I never remove anything, just add from time to time. So there's
no telling what you may find there.

TTUL - 73+ de Gary - KGØZP

Interesting and informative post, Gary. It seems we live about 35 miles
apart. I am in Kingston. I can appreciate your terrain. I have tried
several 70 cm skeds and finally had success on one into north GA. I usually
tell anyone who asks that I am blocked in every direction except up. Of
course, that isn't all bad since one of my main interests is 2 meter EME. I
visited one of the locals on top of one of these hills a while back, and he
had an S-9 noise level on 2 while I had very quiet condx at my QTH.

The narrow bandwidth on 160 isn't much of a problem since I primarily operate
cw on HF. I began chasing a DXCC on 80 CW earlier this year.

73,

Phil - N1KI


In article , am
wrote:
Hi Phil

The bandwidth on 160 was so narrow it was basically only good on one
single frequency for me. Which was OK, I set it for a specific
frequency I used twice a week.

All of my other 160 work was done on that Linear Loaded Inverted Vee
that I put up. I had pigtails on it and set each leg at a different
frequency and it still worked OK for me.

As far as the HF9V I was and am still very impressed with how well
this antenna has worked for me. Especially in the confines of my
suburban yard with antenna restrictions up the wazoo.

But FINALLY I moved to a new state, I live in a valley between the
Cumberland Plateau and the Smoky Mountains, due to the hill behind my
house, sunup isn't until around 9AM. But it is a very high hill and
THAT is where I plan on building my antenna farm.
I've made many calculations and studied the lay of the land several
times, it looks like the ideal spot for this area.
My only concern will be the coax loss in running over 600 feet of coax
up the side of the hill. I would need 9913 for the upper bands.

I'm also looking into the possibly of using perhaps a 6 inch wide
ladder line. But I'm not savvy enough to know if I can run coax out
of the shack to ladder line for 500 feet then back to coax to feed the
antenna towers. This is something I will have to study up on again
before attempting it.

I may try a trick a neighbor about a mile away has done. We have
extremely tall poplar trees here. He cleaned the branches and topped
one of these poplars and then installed a 25 foot tall mast at the top
of one of them for his VHF/UHF antennas. He said it's been up there
for over 5 years and the new branches that sprouted have not come
close to the antenna yet. So that might be one alternative for me to
try also.

The HF9V will be ground mounted at the dividing line between my front
lot and my back lot, which is only partially up the back hill in a
flat clearing where I have plenty of room to run my overkill radials.
At my last home in St. Louis, I had over 3,500 feet of radials, some
extending through neighbors yards until they reached the streets on
the other side of their houses.
And, where backyards meet, many had those stockade fences and they
allowed me to run dipoles across their backyards about 10 feet above
the fence lines by installing 25 foot poles affixed to the fence
posts. POed the telephone and cable TV people who had to watch for my
lines when working on the utility pole mounted services within their
easements. I was not within their easement so they couldn't just
knock them down and leave them laying on the ground, hi hi.....

It was so long ago, I don't remember which bands these apply to, but
those horizontal metal strips on the antenna. On the upper one (after
installing the 160 coil) I took a pair of alligator clips and a piece
of wire about 4 inches long (2 inches each side) and experimented by
making this top bar a little wider. I do remember it worked for
whatever reason I was doing it. So I drilled two small holes in each
end and laced a new copper wire through this allowing about 1-3/4 inch
extending beyond the natural length of this horizontal antenna member.
But I believe this may have been to use an out of ham band frequency
for our emergency communications. The antenna was up for several
years, so you tend to forget things you had to do when it was
initially installed.
I never had problems with it, so I never messed with it.

It seems there are some photos on my web page somewhere, but I don't
know if they include the HF9V or not.
The URL is http://archimedes.galilei.com/raiar if you want to have a
look around and see. I'm quite lax on updating my web page, and it
seems I never remove anything, just add from time to time. So there's
no telling what you may find there.

TTUL - 73+ de Gary - KGØZP



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Hi Phil

As flat as Missouri is, my Creve Coeur home was in a virtual black
hole. There was a microwave installation that blocked me to the
northeast and several large steel buildings between my house and our
local repeater to the east. But to the northwest, I had no trouble
bringing up even the Columbia University repeater most days.

Since I'm new here, I'm not quite sure where Kingston is yet, but I'm
quickly getting used to the fact that what I considered a LONG DRIVE
in the St. Louis area, is just a SHORT HOP to the store here, hi
hi.....
We'll have to get together for an eyeball one of these days!
I missed the local hamfest which I really wanted to attend and get to
meet some faces.
Perhaps you can tell me where the local CANDY STORE is around these
parts. That's part of the reason I'm not up and running yet! Need
STUFF to get everything back up and on the air.

I enjoyed CW for umpteen years, it was my favorite! But then along
come distractions (rug rats) and limited time and I finally switched
over to voice where I could skedaddle quickly if need be.
I'm semi-retired, but often keep so busy, I wonder how I ever had time
to work in the first place.

Plus, I didn't know if where I was living would be temporary or
permanent. As of last friday I know it will be permanent, we bought
the place! So, now I hope to get set up before winter, but there are
many other more pressing issues to take care of now that we know we
will be permanent residents at this location here in south Knoxville.

TTUL
Gary

Hello Gary,

I guess the best components store around here would be Shields. I'm pretty
sure they have a web site. I usually order whatever I need from Mouser.

Kingston is about 20 miles west of Knoxville on I-40. Welcome to East TN,
congrats on the acquisition, and I hope you have a high tolerance for orange.
The locals get a little carried away with that around this time of year. I
am originally from this area, but I have spent a lot of time living elsewhere.
I guess I liked Memphis and KY best.

The Sevierville hamfest used to be (and may still be) one of the first ones of
the year, and it was a pretty good one. Oak Ridge or Clinton also has a nice
one. I believe Knoxville has a couple each year. I try to go to them when I
am not working, but I work a really strange schedule. I imagine e-Bay has had
a major impact on the hamfest business. I have been looking there for 222 MHz
equipment with the idea of getting into meteor scatter on that band. I
started out with an old TS-711 and an eleven element beam my dad got from Army
Mars years ago and discovered high speed CW and meteor scatter, and things
sort of grew from there. I now run a TS-2000X and deliver 1.5KW to four 9
element elevating yagis on 2 meters. I picked up my current callsign when I
decided to get into EME since WB4KMH would be a bit much to use in such a
difficult undertaking.

I hope you enjoy your time here in East TN. The weather usually isn't too
harsh, and the mountains are very colorful in the fall. Hope we hear you on
the air soon.

73, Phil - N1KI



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Hi Phil

Thanks for the name of the Candy Store!

Besides the killer orange, I live very close to the War Zone where the
touchdown BOMBINGS take place, hi hi.....
Thought I was back in Nam until I was told what it was!

My step son is going to school in Memphis, so far he has had one car
stolen, two destroyed beyond FMV by vandals and theives. Far cry from
what it was years ago when I stayed there for a few months.

Of all the years I have been a ham, I never got into to many of what
could be the interesting parts of it. When I first started, all the
locals were on 6 meter AM, my rig was a used Heathkit Sixer
(Lunchbox), just sold it before moving down here to Knoxville, along
with most of my Heathkit gear.
My first 40/80 CW transmitter was a home brew job and I used it for
years. Using a Heath HR10B for the receiver. I finally built an
HW-101 in the early 70's and used it for over 20 years.
It was when I finally burned out on CW that I found the need to
upgrade to something that handled voice a whole lot better. So I
purchased a used 830-S and have been using it ever since.
Plus the array of HT's and old equipment I would keep barely working.
I really hated to let almost everything go, but you just can move 20
years of accumulated junk very easily. I still had 7 trailer loads
when I moved south, but that included one small business I retained
too.

I will probably live out the rest of my days here! It's nice country
now and will probably shift in the area I'm in downward, but I can
hope for the best. I can't visualize having to move again, hi hi.....

I do hope to get back on the air before winter sets in! I finally
made life member status at our local repeater club (no more dues, hi
hi) Then I up and move! Figures.

TTUL - 73+ de Gary - KGØZP