Transmission1

once my antron is treated to a little tlc it will go back up until I can decide on the next upgrade antenna and purchase it.

As it was it was up on a galvanised pole some 11feet long mounted just under soffet boards on house wall.
Fed by rg 213 8 turns on 6" choke.

I'm wondering a few things.

Firstly will I get a benefit by removing choke as it makes little to no differance anyway.

Should I insulate the antenna from the pole.

Should I fit a counterpoise wire from the base of antenna to try to match it ,I'm thinking 20feet long ? And angle it's position away from the feed coax to reduce and problems .

Has anyone made any improvements worth me trying .
Thank you

Good reading about that: https://www.w8ji.com/end-fed_vertical.htm#IMAX

The best thing you can do with an Antron to improve it is get another antenna.

A 5/8 wave might only have about 1.5db gain on paper over the A99 but in practice the difference is usually greater. Oe or two S-points on both TX and RX being common.

Metal antennas also bring in less noise generally.

Ok ok you win , it shall only go back up temp then
On look out for Imax 2k .

No improvement over Antron.

Do it properly. Get a beam.

ch25 wrote: ↑17 May 2018, 18:41 No improvement over Antron.

A wet piece of string's an improvement over mine

No improvement from the antron to IMAX 2k ?.
I give up, can't have a beam up here .

It seems to me no one makes a very good simpke antenna
Too longer radials for most installations. Water ingress in to coils. Cheap crap alloy tubing that's flimsy.
Poor thin copper coil wire internals .
If I lived in the states I'd buy one of big hairs antennas or IMAX upgrades with silver coated heavy copper wire.

Dv 27 on a biscuit tin with radials anyone ?

Double bazooka, simple as they come, cheap to buy or make, low noise...

Look at Sirio 2000 series.

My A99 is ok for a mobile DX antenna. Quick to put up, no need to SWR, quick to take down.

Other than that it stays in the shed.

I still stand by my iMax 2000..... I mean its in the shed at the moment, so I only stand by it if I am in the shed, but they work well, take a beating and dont have as-many haters an the Antron, so its a win/win!

I will look again and do more research, I'm realizing slowly that unless I buy all of the big vertical antennas set them all up in the same position ,same radio feed I may not find which will be best.

I had initial issues with Antrons set but resolved it but it was cheap and in ok Nick.
. Whilst I'm not so knowledgeable in radio com I have found the Antron solid,reliable very very simple and pretty good over all in tx rx signals up to 18/20miles.
It isn't far off my old gap 5/8 that was up some 40feet in the 80 s with crap coax.

I get about 2s points of static noise but that's hardly surprising with the amount of electrical items the neighbours use today.

The Imax I do like the look of simply because it will be simple , likened to the 99 the tanks like them anyway.
It is longer than most too and is a little more than a 5/8 wave I read.

I am very put off by the issues of water in sirio coils ,the complaints are endless.
I may have problem with mounting antenna with radials too.
I would have preferred a alloy antenna this time for weight .

I am naturally a person who had difficulty making decision "Aspurgess" and social anxieties but I hide it very well and have worked hard to overcome big obstacles in life hence my constant need to ensure I buy right first time , it can stop me dead in my tracks too so that added to the lack of radio knowledge I have isn't ideal

I do appreciate your advices and help even if I don't understand all the technical occasionally.

Back to my search for now to find a better performer than the A99 that suits preferably a 5/8 without stunted growth
Think this is hard trying to buy a antenna, it will take me Yeats to buy a ssb radio.
It's been a year now easily.

Thank you for your patience and again for your collective knowledge and experience .

The IMAX should work better than the A99, some people who have used them mention a single S-point improvement. I think the design is compromised by not having radials, hence why a metal 5/8 like the Sirio GPE, Tornado, 827 or 2016 should work better still. Trouble is that radials can be an eye sore.

Get one of those well-made Sigma 4 copies that Dave "Oggy" reviewed a while back. Can't recall the name if it and not sure on cost though.