I finished the modifications to the vertical dipole and it’s good to go on 20M and 40M! I ended up attaching the SO-239 directly to the base of the antenna, improving the connection by drilling a small hole for the center pin to fit into and then securing it with solder. To the ground ring of the SO-239, I attached a banana plug to make it easier to remove the wire portion of the antenna. I then attached an additional 4′ section to the antenna. I used a 6″ piece of 3/4″ copper to join the additional length. Then it was test time. I spooled the wire out to 32′ and moved the tap to the top of the coil. Good to go with a 1:1.2 SWR at 7072 kHz. I had a nice PSK31 QSO with Rick, K8CAV, near Cleavland, Ohio. I then rolled the wire up to 16′ and set the tap down to the bottom of the coil. Again, a nice low SWR and I had a quick QSO with CT2ILI in Portugal. I think the antenna is ready for primetime. The last piece is to figure out how to secure the antenna to a long painter’s pole to give it about 25′ of height and then how to secure the painter’s pole in a vertical position.
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