43 Foot Vertical Pops a U-Bolt

The top U Bolt holds while the bottom just hangs there.

Another title might be… “43 Foot Antenna, the Tilting.”

NOTE: UPDATE AT END OF THIS POST

We had a big blast of cold air come down from Canada last night. Temperatures reached the teens and winds peaked at 50 mph. No problem I thought… “My DX Engineering 43 Foot Vertical has been up in weather like this since 2008 and does exceptionally well.”

The morning was busy gathering up blown away things and mounting a search and rescue of my car cover. Often this car cover sweeps around the house so I walked out back.

My eyes scanned the back yard for the cover. HORROR! I looked up to see a not so vertical antenna against the December backdrop of a cornfield and morning sky. Figure 1 reveals my shock and awe moment…

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43 Foot Antenna Installation – The Rising

Here are some details regarding the next, and probably last, phase of my 43 Foot DX Engineering vertical installation.

This post is very late. The actual date of the events within it are just before March 2009 in preparation for the Virginia QSO Party.

In the many posts within this site, it is no secret my examination of various vertical antenna solutions with comparison between BigIR and the 43 Foot products a big part of this. Check out all the 43 Foot posts on HHD here…

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Priming Aluminum Antennas

Aluminum envy

If you have been reading this web site you will recall I have paid much attention to the 43 foot antenna manufactured by DX Engineering and Zero Five Antennas.

After much simulation and trading the benefits against pitfalls, I purchased the DX Engineering 43 foot antenna kit with the balun.

However, a shiny aluminum antenna in the back yard would attract the kind attention I just don’t need. Research on the Internet reveals several solutions including:

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43 Foot Vertical and Coax Switches

Furthering the discussion of the 43 foot vertical antenna I wanted to report a concern I have with this antenna and the use of any relay based coax switch.

If you install a 43 foot vertical in your back yard, route the coax through a switch and handle the tuning inside your ham shack, you need to ensure you do not exceed the voltage or current limits of the relays in the switch.

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