The S9v 43' is a heavy-duty, telescoping, self-supporting fiberglass vertical designed for Amateur Radio use from 80 through 6 meters. The S9v 43' weighs under 9 pounds, making it the lightest tall vertical on the market.
Over 1 year was spent developing the S9v 43'. Most of the time was spent evaluating fiberglass factories to ensure that they had the manufacturing capabilities to create spiral-wound fiberglass sections in large enough diameters and with the proper thickness and strength characteristics to meet our specifications for a heavy-duty, yet easy to handle tall vertical. The result? Considering its price point, we believe the S9v 43' is the finest tall vertical on the market regardless of materials used. We invite direct comparison of this antenna with any other 43 foot telescoping aluminum vertical costing $300 and up.
The S9v 43' is just under 42' tall and has the same 50 Ohm resonant frequency of 5.44 MHz as some traditional 43' telescoping aluminum verticals.
The S9v 43' must be ground-mounted using a 54-inch section of standard 1-1/2" galvanized plumbing pipe (1.9" max OD - not provided). The S9v 43' base tube simply slips over the pipe for a simple and elegant deployment. (A mechanical connection from the antenna base tube to the pipe is neither required nor desired.) A stainless steel pipe mount clamp is included with the antenna to keep the base of the antenna off of the ground.
The antenna requires a manual or automatic antenna tuner either in your shack or remotely located at the antenna feed point. (Internal rig auto tuners do not have adequate range to match the high impedances presented by S9v 43' at various HF frequencies.)
S9 recommends the LDG Electronics series of auto tuners. LDG tuners easily handle the wide-range of impedances presented by the S9v and they also cover 6 meters - a nice bonus!
In addition to great HF performance, the S9v 43’ offers surprisingly effective performance on the 6 meter band, assuming your antenna tuner covers 6 meters. In casual testing, a ground-mounted S9v 43’ with an efficient radial ground system consistently outperformed a monoband 6 meter Slim Jim elevated at 40 feet. With the S9v 43', you will enjoy solid local 6 meter coverage plus the thrill and excitement of 6 meter DX when Sporadic E propagation occurs.
For optimum performance, the S9v 43' should be used with at least 16 radials (32 preferred), with each radial at least 0.2 wavelength at the lowest operating frequency. If you have the time and resources, 32 or more radials at least 0.2 wavelength long (or longer) should be considered.
There is no precise formula to calculate the length of ground-mounted radials because everyone has different soil and soil tends to change the electrical length of the radials. That said, the following table contains suggested lengths for 0.2 wavelength radial wires:
Band Frequency Minimum Radial Length 80 Meters 3.5 MHz 53.5 feet long (53 feet, 6 inches) 40 Meters 7 MHz 26.75 feet long (26 feet, 9 inches)
It is highly recommend that you use the optional S9 Radial Plateto connect and organize your ground radials. The radial plate is also used to provide the critical ground connection for the coax shield, unun, balun or remote antenna tuner.
Note: For international shipments a surcharge will aply to shipping cost.