Butternut HF-6V Vertical at edge of Kaneohe Bay

The 160 meter coil and the MFJ-986 Tuner tune all HF Bands

This Butternut HF6-V Vertical Antenna is a favorite of mine. I have had several of them throughout the years going back to the 70s. I have used them in the mountains, Suburban San Francisco Bay Area and various coastal locations throughout California.

I have permanently installed my specially segmented travel/portable HF6-V that has been disassembled many times and placed in a golf bag and it's zippered travel container for air transportation to various places. Just in case there was any problems... I placd a putter, 4 wood, 5 iron and wedge in the bag too.

At the edge of Kaneohe Bay this antenna was fed with 100' of 9913 52 ohm coaxial cable. The cable exits the conduit from the operating position and conforms to the side of the house. It then drops to ground level and connects to the RG-11 transformer section that is connected to the antenna. All coaxial connections were covered by layers of UL listed electrical tape. All wir connections are made with soldered wire ends coated with UV resistant pollyurethane clear spray. These connections are checked and re-coated periodically. Stainless steel hardware is used throught. This antenna has some extra structural splices as it has been modified to fit knocked down into a golf bag.

The antenna has been used at QRP and 300W levels on all bands with great results! It's proximity to Kaneohe Bay and sea level is a primary factor in it's performance. The ground system consists of an 8' pipe driven into the ground, with good mechanical and electrical bonding. The 3'mounting pipe fits down into this pipe. A ground point on this lower support section is electrically bonded with an 8" braid type lead. This allows the antenna to be released from it's radial system, removed and placed on the ground during extremely high winds or during hurricane warnings. The radial system has atleast 2 #14 insulated wires above ground for all bands from 7mhz and above. The 80 meter radials are on the ground and reach into the front yard, and 30' into and along Kaneohe Bay itself. I have installed the 160mtr loading kit and have a meandering 160 meter radial along the sea wall and the boat dock.(not easy to see in the photo)

Performance has been good, at 100 watt levels with this antenna. During previous 160 meter contests, no contacts were made at 100 watt levels, with various "L", "T" and Longwires up 25' into small coconut palms. The 160 coil assembly was connected and contact was finally made. As an experiment QRP contacts were made on 160 meters during subsequent events.

The vertical works equally poorly in all directions and works equally well in all directions. One frustration is that the band will often open in such a way that I will have signals reaching the same frequency at the same time and QRMing eachother. Unlike a beam where you can turn away from interference, you just have to listen carefully.

Experiments with phased arrays of 2 or more elements are scheduled for 1998. Many articles have been read, projects photo-copied, and concepts studied. It is my hope that a phased vertical antenna system will allow some of the QRM to be nulled.

I also installed a Cushcraft R-5 16' above grouond, and fed it with RG-8u coax, to the same operating position. It's location was about 75' inland, near the street, above the back side of the garage. It was amazing the differences of signal reception on 20mtrs and up when compairing the two verticals. some QSOs were extended by switching between the two vertical antennas. They both worked about the same on 14mhz and above, but an antenna switch allowed selecting optimum antenna for signal conditions.

MAINTENANCE HINT: Clean the electrical connections and spray a UV resistant Clear PolyUrothane Coating on the areas. Let it dry and spray a second and third coat on. This procedure has slowed the corrosion on this antenna compared to others nearby. I did this for many years and it was worth doing.

NOTE: This antenna is now residing back in California in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, in Trinity County. It is used in conjunction with G5RV and Marconi-Long Wire and works fine.

BUTTERNUT/BENCHER WEBSITE- HF6V and other manuals in PDF files.

HF-6V HAS VISITOR! WEBPAGE- See the Gekko in the coil!

First Uploaded: December 6, 1998

Last Updated: January 4, 2009