Radio Field Ops report adding 4-foot extensions up to 40 feet! #experimental

von Greyline Performance 25. Januar. 2023

Greyline 20' HF Vertical Antenna extends to 40 feet, really?!

"I love the performance but have concerns. 40-feet is perhaps a bit long. I may shorten it to 36 feet," says our field op in Washington State.

As you may recall, we have run several polls recently to get into what you and our other customers really want to see built. We've asked a series of questions such as, How to Operate on 160M, How high can you go, Can you use Radials, How much power can you run, how much room do you have, etc. etc.

Quietly, we've been shipping out extensions to various customers to test adding 4 feet to their 20 or 24 foot Greyline Antennas and some have gone up to 40 feet !

Check this out in what is clearly an HOA environment.

40 foot HF Vertical Dipole in an HOA

ham radio, hoa, hf vertical antenna, flagpole antenna,

At those heights it is important that they are adding guy-ropes as our current free-standing antennas are engineered-properly, mind you, only to 20/24 feet. Anything above this is subject to guying ropes or tie-offs.

Note: These are experimental-use only until we can properly engineer a solution that will stand the test of time. Again, we do not recommend this for everyone, yet. But, that said, we do think this is good information and must share this with you.

40' HOA Flagpole Antenna (without the Flag) with Guy Ropes

ham radio, greyline, hf vertical antenna, hoa,

We think guy ropes at 30 feet for a 40-footer make sense. There are calculators on the web for various types of poles and towers one can experiment using that will suggest what heights to attach your guy ropes.

Our experimental radio op in the field told us that it was a bit iffy putting the 40' up by himself. He created a homebrew pivot point at the bottom of the vertical and slowly walked it up. You can see his handy work, here:

DIY Homebrew example of a Tilt Over, Pivot Point for the 40' HF Vertical Antenna

hf vertical antenna, ham radio, in an hoa, flagpole antenna, diy, pivot base, tilt base

Our buddy Mike reports that he's working Real DX on 160-10M with this set up and really is having fun again. What do you think of that? Is this something you would try? Let us know, drop a note: Contact Us now.

Some of you may wish to try experimenting by adding 4' extensions to your antenna too. Let us know what you find, email or call us. We want to know. Thanks!

We hope you enjoyed this information and maybe learned something from it. Ham Radio is fun again! Pass it on...

73 Greyline Performance

How to Order a Flagpole Antenna, checklist.

WHAT CUSTOMERS ARE SAYING:

"Real DX 160-6M at my HOA"
"4 Band DXCC in 3 months at my HOA."
"So pretty my XYL approves!"
"If I can hear it, I can work it."

Ham Radio is fun again! Pass it on...

Please take our 160M Survey

This survey reads like a Q&A of how to turn your 20-24' Flagpole Antenna into an 80-160M Real DX antenna for those using the lower impedance range (low cost) tuners.

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IMPRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT

This is an antenna I wish I would have purchased sooner. We live in an HOA with a small lot and some restrictions on antenna placement and height. We had a small vertical antenna mounted to our fence, but had limited places to install grounds and could only put two in place along the fence line. We could only receive 40M, sometimes 20M, and both had to be tuned and adjusted at the antenna. This year, those bands began generating high SWR. I was able to determine the wiring and connections were all good but the antenna was failing and we would miss out on the new solar cycle. We ordered a 20' Greyline, without the flag mount options, along with an LDG 100W external tuner. Due to a backlog in supplies, it took many months to process my order, and when I paid with a credit card it was cancelled the following month because they could not ship it within 30 days to process my credit card. I called and they no longer had any 20' antenna packages to ship at that time, but they agreed to ship me a 24' for the same price without further delay. That was still not going to be visible from the street above my home which is an HOA requirement, so I agreed. After receiving the equipment and installing it, I was amazed. 40M, 20M, 12M, and 10M bands were all below 1.5 SWR. 30M was an impressive 1.1 SWR. Unfortunately, I could not tune 80M, 17M, or 15M due to high SWR. Quite possibly this is an issue with the LDG tuner. We have reached far away with this antenna, and my wife began using FT8 and collected QSOs with 29 countries on multiple bands within a week. I was able to reach Australia, which showed a distance of 10,000 miles. The antenna is in my back yard, close to my house and neighbors say they don't notice it. While I could have installed it in the front as a flagpole, I would have to re-rout all of my wiring to the front of the house. This is an impressive antenna. If I were to do this again, I would like to have purchased an already assembled ladder-line to PL-259 adaptor as assembling the provided kit proved somewhat challenging without a drill press which I no longer have after downsizing a few years ago, and having to modify the clamshell case so that it would fit over the PL-259 component. The RF-choke required weather proofing so I ended up purchasing 1-1/2" waterproofed shrink tube that seemed expensive for the length needed. In the end, it all worked well when connected. I fully recommend this antenna.

Wow! So great to hear that you and the XYL both are enjoying the bands together. Let's get those other bands working. Likely a ground issue we can resolve. *We've already called him for a few testing exercises to get things dialed in. Ham Radio is fun again! Pass it on... 73 Greyline Performance

Proudly displaying "Old Glory" and working the world!

At the age of 79 was able to install the 20ft flagpole antenna without help, which surprised me. I installed solar lights above and below the flag and it's a beautiful sight at night. I attached the ladder line directly to the ground and long wire terminals on the MFJ tuner and it works perfectly. Very low SWR on all bands. In spite of poor band conditions I have been having a blast. Frankly, it tickles me to have my antenna sticking up in my front yard in plain site. My neighbors love it and the HOA is clueless. 73's, Kelly K4SLE

Latest review

Band conditions have been tough running barefoot, but I have been working DX on 20 meters! DL, SM, YU, RU, ZS, TI all in a single morning with only 70 watts. In fact i have had so much fun being back on the air i have made the decision to replace my aging 30+ year old Kenwood with a new radio. I been pleased with the antenna and my neighbors have been pleased with the look of the flagpole.

A Worthy Investment

I purchased two chokes, the coax to ladder line choke from the tuner output to the antenna ladder line and the coax to coax choke that I have installed at the radio. These work very nicely to tame noise. It's a worthwhile investment. The mini choke works better than the MFJ one that I originally was using.

My new DX 28 flagpole vertical antenna

The weather finally allowed me to complete the installation of my new DX-28. During the many storms, I was able to build and piece the antenna into three separate sections, preparing it for final installation once the ground dried out. After several weeks of poor weather, I was able to finish the installation which only took an hour. The machining quality and materials of this antenna is impressive. I used the LDG RT-100 ATU, ladder line to PL259 500 watt line isolator, with LMR400 coax. Within the first hour of operating, I made 15 contacts with 5-9-9 signal reports. I gave this 4 stars only because there was a few missing parts which greyline resolved quickly with a phone call.
WB8UIN