Is 40 feet a waste of time and money?

[N6AJR]

I took down a 15 foot roof tower ( on a 1 story roof at about 18 feet) and put up a 40 foot rohn tower with a hazer on it. I am very happy with the new setup. It works better than the old setup.  I have it set in 1 yard of concrete, ( 3x3x3) and guyed at the hazer, and bracketed to the house .  The roof tower was very noisy in the wind and moan and groan. the roof acted like an amplifier. it was noisy.  the new tower is very quiet and much more rigid.  I say go for it.  it will be fine.

[VE3TMT]

I have a Cushcraft A3S at 32'. compared to the R7 vertical it replaced it is night and day difference. So I would say a beam at any height is a good choice. Sure I would love stacked beams on a 100' tower, but what I have works great for my purposes.

Have fun,

[KF6ABU]

My old tribander at 35ft worked spectacularly better than my old elevated vertical for DX.

[W4RS]

i have had ant's at 40, 50, 90, 100, 120 ft. at 40 ft a good tribander will work them all, now i have a tribander at 35 ft. course now being a du3 adds 10 db to my sig!

[K8AC]

I am putting up an antenna as well...  At 40 feet...  I have a choice of putting it out in the open, (open being defined as nothing for probably 75 from it, or up closer to the house, or against the house...  Any thoughts here?  Would I see a big difference from open, vs. with a house under it at about 25 feet.

I would opt for being further from the house.  Proximity to the house brings into play another set of problems from your fundamental signal getting into electronics in the home. 

[VE3FMC]

If 40 feet is a waste of time then I have been wasting the last 20 years of hamming. I do not have a tower over 30 feet. The highest I have had any antenna is the feed point for an 80 and 40 meter dipole, at 38 feet.

It is what it is. I never got around to installing a free standing tower. My house to is low to attach a tower over 30 feet. The attach point is 12 feet off the ground. I am pushing it at 30 feet, but have not had any issues over the past 20 years.

Am I a BIG GUN? Hell no, and I knew I never would be. But I make lots of contacts, and the past year most of those have been with low power on JT65. I have worked VK's with 15 watts on 40 with a dipole hung at 30 feet.

Yes my 80 meter dipole is NVIS but that is ok, I am not interested in DX on 80.

My next antenna project will be to install a new Hy Gain TH2-MK3. that beam will sit at roughly 32 feet off the ground, 20 feet above the roof line. No it is not going to be a rock crusher but it will be better than a dipole.

I know a ham who has a G5RV strung along the top of his wooden fence. Again he is no where close to being a big station. But he works DX with CW and JT65. One thing about it, when he works a new country it is exciting  

Do what you can do and be happy you can get any antenna up 40 feet. With all the restrictions etc that some hams have to work through 40 feet would sound pretty damn good to them!

As I type this I am working RV6FT on 17 meters JT65 with 15 watts to an aluminum home brewed dipole which is mounted at 24 feet. So you can make contacts with low antennas. Sure Vlad might have a big antenna system and be doing most of the work but the contact was made.

It would be fun to know exactly how many hams have low antennas. I bet a lot of hams who live on small city lots are restricted to the height of towers etc. Maybe we should conduct a poll 

[KD8IIC]

Put it up to 35ft, that's a half wave on 20, plenty high.Try not to over think this stuff, you're not having any fun on the air by doing that.Put it up as high as you can but use whatever you can put up and try it. My first HF antenna was a 20m inverted vee at 15ft apex.Worked Columbia weekly, Spain and Scotland on occasion.All from Ohio with 100w usb from an Icom 718. Had tons of fun, only took an hour to put up and tune.  "Just Do It"...73

[VE3FMC]

Put it up to 35ft, that's a half wave on 20, plenty high.Try not to over think this stuff, you're not having any fun on the air by doing that.Put it up as high as you can but use whatever you can put up and try it. My first HF antenna was a 20m inverted vee at 15ft apex.Worked Columbia weekly, Spain and Scotland on occasion.All from Ohio with 100w usb from an Icom 718. Had tons of fun, only took an hour to put up and tune.  "Just Do It"...73

My first HF antenna was a 80 meter loop. Highest point of that antenna was around 28 feet. Lowest was around 8 feet. Since I only had a license that allowed me to operate 80 and 160 at the time I never knew how that antenna worked on other bands.

Although it was at pathetic heights for 80 meters I had a lot of fun when I started to use it. I managed to get WAS, work some DX (Europe, VK's) all with 100 watts.

My current 80 M dipole is only up at 29 feet at the apex. I know the limits of the antenna and do not expect to be able to work DX on a regular basis. But it does what I need it to do.

Lane you are correct, put it up, think less about it and get on the air and have some QSO's. That is what it is all about.

If some people think 40 feet is a waste of time they should go read the threads in the next section of this forum, Antenna Restrictions. Lots of guys using attic antennas and having fun with the hobby.