Further work on the ZeroFive Flagpole Antenna

Here is the setup:

• ZeroFive 30ft extra heavy duty flagpole vertical antenna
• 38 #14 solid direct burial grade radials 30 ft long, soldered to the radial ring.
• 3/8 inch copper tube radial ring, bonded to the antenna with a #14 solid wire
• Array Solutions AS-302N 3K lightning protection/static dissipation
• one eight foot ground rod (you can see the feed is protected in a flexible conduit)
• 275 ft of Hardline to the shack
• 2 ft of Belden 9713F final whip from antenna to Array Solutions device
• 12 ft of Belden 9713F final whip to an internal Flex-6700 antenna tuner in the shack

I’m running 30m digital as I type the Flagpole Vertical.  In use for 30m the ATU bypasses as the match is 1.05:1 which with the long feedline disappears to a very level coupling.

Business end of the antenna

ZeroFive Flagpole first Antenna Analyzer Scans

Remember this is a typical vertical pressed into service as a real flagpole.

I had hoped for better 80m and improved 40m, but the antenna scans as very usable 60-10m, requiring light coupling on some bands and no coupling on others.

FiveZero Flagpole Resonance

Radials for the home QTH Flag Pole Vertical

Installing vertical antenna radials is a chore.  Period.

In my Zero-Five Flagpole Vertical Antenna the designer suggestion is radials nominally the same length as the pole with at least 30 radials if possible.

Vertical with 30 radials (taken from a text book)

They also note that at that point more radials do not seem effective or worth the efforts & costs, with little improvement even if you double the number of radials.

So I’ve settled on installing 36 radials, which makes them an easy 10 degree spacing, with a nominal length of 32 feet each.  This will put down roughly 1152 lineal feet of radials of which 6 radials or 192 lineal feet are extras above the suggestion.

Flagpole Vertical Antenna Progress – Stars & Stripes is Flying!

 

Flagpole flying the Flag- closeup – pole is 10m +/-tall

After much delay the Flagpole is physically up at the home QTH.

Feeling out Antennas for K9ZW Island QTH – Part 4

An update on installing the Custom Extra Heavy Duty Zero-Five Flagpole-Vertical HF Antenna.

Here is the flag flying once the pole/antenna was up:

Antenna flying our flag

After letting everything “settle” I’ve since I’ve releveled the pole by using the mounting nuts on the embedded L-bolts.

Bought the parts for the radial ring and will solder that together back at home.  The ground will need to be a lot more moist to put in the radials.

The underground conduit will be put in by a contractor as well.

73

Steve
K9ZW

Feeling out Antennas for K9ZW Island QTH – Part 3

Focus has been on installing the Custom Extra Heavy Duty Zero-Five Flagpole-Vertical HF Antenna.  First you have to dig a hole.  of course we hit bedrock just 24 inches down, and brushed against the telephone wire despite the hole not being on the original plot of land.  No idea why the telephone wire ran west onto what was at te time a neighbors parcel.  Some mysteries are lost to time.

down to rock at 24 inches

Since we hit rock we had to go for a modified base, where weight and physical dimensions substitute for the 24 inch 6 ft deep cylinder we’d expected to have poured. I was off island when it was formed and poured, so here is the result.  We made a form plate to put the L-bolts in the right spacing and pattern.

 

Final dimensions ended up 4 ft x 4 ft x 2 ft, with a 2 ft x 2 ft by 3/4 ft riser.  Because of the way the bedrock stripped the overall pour was just over 2 yards of high strength concrete – nearly three times the expected 7/10ths of a yard for the tubular design we couldn’t use.

 

Here is the result once the forms were removed:

 

Zero-Five Flagpole base

I didn’t want to take the spacer off at this stage, preferring it to keep everything in alignment until the base is actually installed (it is sitting on the bolts in the picture).

Feedline conduit will turn up along side the base, and I’m running power to the area for later use.  Power will be in a separate 3/4 inch conduit,

I’ll be making up a copper “halo” to go around the base for radials.

Glad to have the support of some engineering for “on rock foundations” as blasting a deeper hole seemed pointless.  I don’t think this flagpole is going to go anywhere before the weather bends/breaks it first.

 

73

Steve
K9ZW