Several recent local tests on 6m lead me to believe the V2000 triband vertical is not that good for local working. It is fine for DXing but signals around 15-25 miles away are weaker than I'd expect. Maybe the polarisation is not as truly vertical as I had believed? I can access the 6m repeater 25 miles away OK and can work stations, but at levels lower than I would have expected. Essentially the V2000 should be like a vertical halfwave on 50MHz, so this is a bit puzzling. In the past I had assumed it to be a pretty good antenna, but maybe not.
22 Jul 2009
V2000 vertical on 6m
Several recent local tests on 6m lead me to believe the V2000 triband vertical is not that good for local working. It is fine for DXing but signals around 15-25 miles away are weaker than I'd expect. Maybe the polarisation is not as truly vertical as I had believed? I can access the 6m repeater 25 miles away OK and can work stations, but at levels lower than I would have expected. Essentially the V2000 should be like a vertical halfwave on 50MHz, so this is a bit puzzling. In the past I had assumed it to be a pretty good antenna, but maybe not.
Hi Roger
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see your comments regarding the V2000. I wonder if it is identical to the Watson W2000? I helped to install one of these last year and at the time, it didn't seem too impressive. Having said that, it did seem to give a good account of itself in the recent Sporadic-E season.
As for the polariztion, surely it has to be vertical? After all, the radiating element is vertical and the small adjustable ground plane is only for matching. Perhaps the fact that the single ground plane is on one side makes the antenna slightly directional??
John, EI7GL
John,
ReplyDeleteI suspect it is not quite a true half wave vertical because of the radial being on one side only. I am also unsure what the phasing stubs for 2m/70cms do on 6m to the polarisation and unity gain.
It might be worth me putting up a vertical dipole to compare performance one against the other.
Not saying it is a bad antenna on 6m, just not as effective as expected over local distances.