G4AON Vertical antenna frequently asked questions
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Q. I don't have a dip oscillator, is there another way to tune the traps?

A. Traps can be tuned by using a short piece of wire as an antenna and 
connecting the trap in series with a receiver antenna socket,
however this is quite tricky.
 
A dip oscillator, such as the Heathkit HD-1250, can often be loaned from
a fellow ham or bought for little money on eBay.
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Q. I don't have any enamelled copper wire, can I use ordinary insulated
wire instead?

A. At a pinch yes, however the trap will be lower Q as a result of the
additional insulation. A spool of enamelled wire isn't very expensive.
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Q. Can you give exact measurements for the wires to save me having
to fold and cut them?

A. The wire lengths are dependant on the ground system and also on
surrounding wires, buildings and trees. So it is not possible to give
exact lengths.
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Q. Can a cheap wire and fishing rod antenna really match the performance
of a commercial antenna?

A. In many cases it exceeds their performance. Some commercial vertical
antennas are awful, especially those which are wideband, limited in their
power handling and use no radials. See www.eham.net for reviews.
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Q. I have plenty of room for buried radials, should I make all the radials full
size for 7 MHz, or should I install some shorter ones for the higher bands
as well?

A. Others have determined that radials some 66% of the length of an elevated radial
perform better than "full length" ones for buried radials, therefore it seems
likely that using some shorter radials, as well as the longer ones, will probably
be of benefit.

Placing radials underground de-tunes them, so it is not surprising they work 
best when reduced in length compared to elevated radials.

Having plenty of radials is the key to success with a ground mounted vertical,
a minimum of 16 radials should be aimed for.
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Q. Do I need to make the junction box with it's ferrite ring, or can I 
just solder the coax to the antenna and ground wires?

A. The junction box, with it's feedline choke, is optional and probably
makes little difference to the antennas performance, however many hams
do use feedline chokes to minimise RF pickup, and radiation from, the coax.
I feel the use of a feedline choke is good engineering practice.
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