TUNING THE HF6V FOR 80/75 METERS WITH A JUMPER WIRE 0 1 2 3 4 5 3500 3600 3700 3800 3900 4000 FREQ U EN C Y IN K H Z SHO RTED TURNS FR O M B O TTO M I own and operate an ground mounted HF6V. For almost 20 years, this antenna has been my primary access to the airwaves. It has served me well. Recently, I was intrigued after reading AD5X’s article on tuning the HF6V or HF9V for SSB and CW coverage without having to stretch or compress the 80 meter coil. His approach was quite simple; just short out a few turns of the coil and you change the operating frequency of the antenna. Phil’s approach centered on CW operation with a desire to operate occasionally on 75-meters to access some Nets. I decided to take his approach a step farther and see what could be done about full access to the 80/75-meter band. First, I constructed a jumper from some insulated 10 gauge copper wire and a couple of alligator clips. Once I had them soldered together (a clip on each end and about a foot of wire), out to the backyard I went. With the 80-meter coil compressed so the minimum SWR of about 1.2:1 was at around 3505 – 3510, I clipped one end of the jumper on the shorting bar that leads from the base of the antenna to the 80-meter capacitor (across the coil), and the other to the coil. The results are illustrated above. Yours may vary depending on the grounding system and other local conditions, but this is the general idea. It is possible to get access to any part of the band quite easily.
TUNING THE HF6V FOR 80/75 METERS WITH A JUMPER WIRE
TUNING THE HF6V FOR 80/75 METERS WITH A JUMPER WIRE
I own and operate an ground mounted HF6V. For almost 20 years,
this antenna has been my primary access to the airwaves. It has
served me well. Recently, I was intrigued after reading AD5Xs
article on tuning the HF6V or HF9V for SSB and CW coverage without
having to stretch or compress the 80 meter coil. His approach was
quite simple; just short out a few turns of the coil and you change
the operating frequency of the antenna. Phils approach centered on
CW operation with a desire to operate occasionally on 75-meters to
access some Nets. I decided to take his approach a step farther and
see what could be done about full access to the 80/75-meter
band.
First, I constructed a jumper from some insulated 10 gauge
copper wire and a couple of alligator clips. Once I had them
soldered together (a clip on each end and about a foot of wire),
out to the backyard I went. With the 80-meter coil compressed so
the minimum SWR of about 1.2:1 was at around 3505 3510, I clipped
one end of the jumper on the shorting bar that leads from the base
of the antenna to the 80-meter capacitor (across the coil), and the
other to the coil. The results are illustrated above. Yours may
vary depending on the grounding system and other local conditions,
but this is the general idea. It is possible to get access to any
part of the band quite easily. I have not yet worked any stations,
but it does look promising. A very simple solution, I dont know why
I have not done it before.
