mikefox whiskey
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MFW Imax 2000 with straight radials - photos!
I decided to put my groundplane radial kit back on my Imax 2000 today, the kit comes with a bracket to hold the four 6ft ground planes at a 45 degree angle below the feed point, this was a bit difficult to get up as the radials where forcefully getting bent against the roof while erecting it so I decided to straighten out the ground planes to as near 90 degrees as I could much like the normal ground plane arrangements on other 11m verticals.
This is the original bracket that came with the ground planes, it got a bit rusty after a short while when I bought it a few years ago so I had a heavier stainless steel one made which I can use with the radials in their original 45 degree angle. I used the original lighter bracket as it was easier bent into the shape that will hold the radials at 90 degrees.
The ground planes straightened and on the bracket.
The 22ft pole dropped to the ground and the radials attached to the mounting plate of the Imax, you can see the 600 Ohm line for my doublet draped over the top of the Sky dish.
A close up of the current choke balun below the feedpoint to stop the coax radiating, this one came off an old Carolina Windom. The pole itself has also been electrically isolated from the antenna with plastic sleeving, this should insure that any current coming down goes to the radials and not the mast or coax.
It was near night time when I got finished, this is the pole back up, it's about 36ft up to the base of the antenna when the mast is pushed up the brackets, that 600 Ohm line is not actually attached to the ground planes as it looks! it's actually suspended on a piece of kevlar cord about 10 ft below the base of the Imax.
--- Patrick - MFW / 68 FB750
kenwood TS870s - Astatic 1104c Microphone - 54 meter long doublet - Multiband Delta Loop.
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28/Oct/2009, 9:55 pm
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topbuzzuk
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Re: MFW Imax 2000 with straight radials - photos!
very good indeed, be intresting to se what the results are. I have always wondered how much diference the radials make on the imax and antron
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26~FoxtrotBravo~118 |
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28/Oct/2009, 11:00 pm
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Hot Fusion
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Re: MFW Imax 2000 with straight radials - photos!
Nice work, write-up and photos; It'll be interesting to hear if the kit makes any noticable difference.
Hopefully, now that we have a (single) sunspot, things may be on the up, propagation-wise. 
---
Andy - 26 FB107
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29/Oct/2009, 7:01 pm
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mikefox whiskey
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Re: MFW Imax 2000 with straight radials - photos!
I can confirm that since making the changes there is less noise/static and more audio/signal from ground wave stations, now this might be a result of isolating the antenna from the steel mast or the radials or both, the radials are certainly not doing any harm up there and look a lot better horizontal rather than sloped at a 45 degree angle. I'll get a few more contacts and get some comparisons from the antenna when I had it without the radials and attached directly to the pole.
--- Patrick - MFW / 68 FB750
kenwood TS870s - Astatic 1104c Microphone - 54 meter long doublet - Multiband Delta Loop.
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29/Oct/2009, 8:18 pm
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