Spring / Summer backyard tower project

[Rob_Walker]

Yesterday my wife and I had the challenge of bringing the Hi-Gain down twice as I made my first attempt at tuning an antenna.  We weren't without our challenges!

These were our initial readings out of the box:
80 Metre 1.07 @ 3.940
40 Metre 1.99 @ 7.200
30 Meter 1.14 @ 10.170
20 Meter 1.39 @ 13.248
17 Meter 1.26 @ 18.100
15 Meter 1.30 @ 20.700

These were my approximate targets taking into account a slight increase in resonance frequency the higher a vertical is off the ground

Targets:
3700
7100
14150
18125
21125
28400

The 80 Meter capacity hat has eight 48" radials which puts me at the top of the 80 Metre band.  Underneath is an inductor coil which you can tap at various points allowing you fine tune the frequency you want to work at.







The 40 Metre band needed to come down and the Hi-Gain manual said trimming 1" from the radial will reduce the frequency 4 KHz.  I trimmed 1-1/2" and t didn't make any change.  The next break in the weather I will take the antenna down and be more aggressive with the 40 Metre tuning which I'm sure will impact my other settings since you should tune the lowest frequency bands first.





All the bands from 6 Metres up to (but not including 15 Metres) are tuned by adjusting little aluminum studs that slide inside aluminum tubs for each band.



After getting the antenna back up, I have ran into a new problem - the 20 Meter band dos not resonate (not at all).

I scanned from 13500 to 15000 and it hugged the 15 line on my meter which I think is as high as the scale goes. I was thinking along the lines of a bad connection even thought I visually looked the connections and solder joints over.  I am going to bring it down and check continuity with a meter on everything.

I still have some adjusting to do otherwise.  Here is where I sit at the moment.  I wish the weather was better!

80 Meters = 1:14 @ 3.732 MHz
40 Meters = 1.08 @ 7.386 MHz
30 Meters = 1.58 @ 10.17 MHz
20 Meters = 15:1 @ 14.2158 MHz
17 Meters = 1.8 @ 18.168 MHz
15 Meters = 1.66 @ 21.020 MHz
12 Meters = 1.97 @ 24.987 MHz
10 Meters = 1.47 @ 28.534 MHz
6 Meters = 1.07 @ 53.264 MHZ