Today I went to the MTARA’s Hamfest located in Springfield MA looking for Anderson power pole items. Since I have not been to a “Hamfest” in 6 years or so, It looked rather small. Last one I went to was MTARA’s fest when It was in Amherst and It was 4 times the size. After talking with some people they told me that this “Small size” fest is actually bigger compared to the past couple of years. That’s a good sign that there is more interest in Ham Radio in the Western Mass area. Hopefully it grew. While at the fest I saw a box with some aluminum tubing and aluminum coils sticking out the top and thought it was a butternut antenna. After talking with the seller it was indeed a Butternut but That’s all he knew. He didn’t even know if it was a complete set. He was asking $60 I talked him down a tad because of the uncertainty of it being complete. After getting it home and doing a quick assembly, It’s a complete used ButterNut HF9V with the 75Ohm matching cable and manual. So I am quite pleased and I hope this antenna performs better than what I was originally going to purchase (S9’s 43ft Verticle W/ 4:1 unun).
Can’t wait to get this project going. Hopefully the 90Ft of RG-8x will reach. The only fabrication I plan on doing to this is making a Stainless Ground Radial plate to mount the ground radials onto.
At the MTARA’s Hamfest I also picked up a ISOPOLE for 440mhz. I purchased to see If I can duplicate the antenna. It appears to be either a 1/2″ or 5/8″ Solid Aluminum Rod with a couple of 0.030 aluminum cones with a small lock seam (Pittsburgh lock?), Fiberglass insulator, Hose clamps and N-Type connector. I have not really looked at it other than putting in my attic just to see how it performs compared to my other 440mhz Antennas. Quick test shows that it performs a little bit better than the Copper cactus and my Dual band OSJ-Pole. Once the weather get’s nice it might end up on the roof.
Last stop I made to the Hamfest was to HCRA table and purchased a membership. I like to support the local ham clubs so this was the day to do it.
Hi Jeffery and welcome to HCRA. Thanks for stopping by the table and filling out a membership form. The blog looks great. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the club. I’ll send my email address direct. Thanks for supporting HCRA and we look forward to seeing you at the next meeting!
-matt – W1MSW
Thanks. Saw your picture in QST this month for the Rookie roundup. I laughed when I saw the photo and I was saying “Gee, I was just talking to him last week”
Hi !
Boy I have a badly damaged 2nd hand Isopole 440, too !
Can you have some measures of it ?
Cone dimensions, spacing and so on…
( and where the “N” Connector is located ? )
TNX Friend !
73/DX de PP5VX (Bone)