| K1EHZ |
Rating:      |
2011-02-21 | |
| Excellent product! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I purchased the S9 31' vertical before moving to a new location in New Hampshire. I planned to install the S9 according to John's guidelines using Home Depot wire for the radials, an LDG Z-11 Pro II tuner, and a Balun Designs choke, all of which were also purchased before moving. The week after moving in mid-November I was able to drive the pipe into the ground at the lawn-woods boundary and layout 34 28-foot radials (17 are in the woods) before everything froze. The tuner went into a Carlon box with feed-thru fittings for the coax. The batteries for the tuner were not lasting very long in the cold temps, so after a month I added a fitting to the Carlon box for a power cord and powered the tuner from the house. The Balun Designs choke is placed outside the radial field at the rig end of 60' of BuryFlex coax. So far the physical arrangement has worked well through 3 feet of snow, high winds, and temps down to -14F. In spring the radials, coax and power cord will be buried to avoid tripping hazards.
On the technical side, from the literature the theoretical radiation resistance of the S9 is about 36 ohms, and the ground loss resistance of the 34 radials is about 5 ohms. Therefore, I estimate the S9's efficiency should exceed 85%.
In practice, the S9's performance has been excellent, far above my expectations. Using the LDG tuner, the antenna loads up well on 80m thru 6m. With 100 watts from an ICOM 736 I work Europe routinely, and into South Africa and southern South America when propagation is favorable. I also participate in WSPRNet running 5 watts to the S9 on 40m, 20m and 15m. My signal is often heard as far away as VK, and their signals are heard here.
I highly recommend this antenna, and John's great service, to anyone seeking a solid multi-band performer that also blends nicely into the landscape. |
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| WD9F |
Rating:      |
2011-02-12 | |
| Awesome! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| My S9V (31 footer) has been in use for several months. I use it on 40M and up with a Palstar Tuner in the shack. Fed with 60 feet of RG 213. SWR is 1.3 on 40 so I don't use a tuner at all on that band. On 30 and up I do but it works great. It's all but invisible in my back yard and when we get high winds here in the mid-west it handles them very well. My DX QSOs have sky rocketed since installation and it only took me 30 minutes to assmble it and put it up over an existing radial field. Best antenna I've had and I've been fooling around with them since 1978. Get one. You'll be glad you did. |
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| W4SFC |
Rating:      |
2010-11-28 | |
| Best Bang For The Buck |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| After being out of radio for 5 years I got the itch again this past summer to start playing radio again. Having sold off my last station I promised the XYL that I would go slowly and inexpensive, to start, this time. My current location unfortunately does not allow many options for antennas. I tried using a G5RVjr, but was very dissatisfied with it's performance. After reading the reviews here I started looking at the S9. Based on the reviews and cost I decided to give it a try. I ordered the 31' S9 along with the radial plate and recommended Balun Designs 4:1 unun. Because this is a straight forward vertical installation is very easy, no tuning stubs or coils to adjust, no analyzer needed, and took less then 30 mins to have ready to mount. I have ground mounted the antenna, and currently have 20 30' radials attached to the radial plate. Like another reviewer here, I chose to purchase a 1000' spool of 14g electrical fence wire from Tractor Supply for 19.95 to use for the radials. Hard to work with, but much less expensive then 14g stranded copper wire. After connecting the antenna to my rig, the first thing I check was tuning. Using a LDG AT-100 pro ATU the antenna easily tunes 40 - 6 at < 1:3 as promised. Next I just started listening around the bands, this is when I realized just how deaf my G5RVjr was compared to the S9. Transmitting with this antenna was just as much a surprise. I have made numerous stateside, European and South American contacts, normally on just my first or second call. This morning however showed me the performance of this antenna. From my QTH in Southeast North Carolina, I was able to receive a 57 report from VK land. Not bad considering I am only running 100 watts from a TS-520 and the S9 antenna. I have had experience with another vertical prior to going QRT. I had used a GAP Challenger. I can say that after investing over $300.00 for the GAP, and another $300.00 for an antenna analyzer, which I found necessary to get all the tuning stubs properly tuned, my $89.00 S9 runs circles around the GAP. You just can not go wrong with this antenna if towers and beams are not possible for you. |
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| AL7B |
Rating:      |
2010-11-21 | |
| Good Materials |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
My S9v 43’ Vertical Antenna has been up for about 2 months and already survived 50MPH winds and ice loading without any problems.
The S9v is basically a 43’ wire supported by a fiberglass tube. Nothing magical in this area and it can be expected to perform like most other wire vertical antennas.
I did not have room to build the antenna on the ground and then raise it to the vertical position. The lot is too small and heavily wooded. In my case I was able to route the antenna wire out the bottom section and mount the collapsed antenna onto the mounting mast. Working from the deck of the house each section was telescoped and secured. The wire pulled easily through the hole in the bottom section.
I had an existing pipe support and radial system so was able to skip those areas of the installation. My ground pipe was smaller than the 1.9” needed for the bottom section of the S9v so I had to install a PVC sleeve on the pipe before installing the antenna.
One modification to the installation I made was to tape each section with black electrical tape. The open end of each section looks upward and I was concerned of moisture collecting at the joining sections. Freezing moisture could expand and might cause damage to the fiber glass. This may not be a problem in reality but I figured it was easiest to do at the time of installation.
Some sections of the antenna require multiple screws to secure. The alignment of the two sections is marked by a black tic mark on the upper section. I did not see it clearly stated in the directions, but it is also important to align a black tic mark on the low section with the ‘key’ hole. If not done the remaining holes will not align properly. If the holes of the two sections do not align properly make sure the two sections are twisted properly.
Telescoping the antenna sections took about 15 minutes. Once up it does stand tall, stable and proud. The S9v looks to be perfectly vertical in calm conditions. The color blends well with the surrounding vegetation.
The S9v 43’ Vertical Antenna is a quality product and good value. In my case it is fed using an SGC-237 remote tuner and DX Engineering Radial Plate. Again, the tuner and radial plate were in place from a previous antenna. Based on the quality of the S9v materials I have no doubt their radial plate would be of good quality.
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| KD8OPI |
Rating:      |
2010-11-16 | |
| An amazing low-visibility antenna. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Like a lot of you, I live on less than a half-acre of land with neighbors close by and a mythical HOA keeping us safe from each others' desire to be different. The S9 31' antenna is for those of us in such circumstances.
I bought the antenna after reading the short review of it in QST. It seemed like the perfect antenna solution, and it meant that if executed properly I would no longer need to set up a Buddipole on my deck each and every time I wanted to use use my radio (the Buddipole is still a great antenna). So I bought one, with a radial plate and the included hardware kit.
Instructions down-loaded and 32 radials cut, I took a day of vacation off to install it. It went up fairly easily (the radials and everything else are a different matter) and it is a fantastic performer. I am able to work the limits of propagation with this antenna on PSK-31, and enjoy my hobby more because I finally have a permanent antenna fed into the "shack" at my QTH. it is invisible in my tree-line - it just looks like a thin branch or trunk. I use an LDG IT 100, the recommended 4-1 "Unun" (buy it, its built for this antenna) and use an Icom IC-7000.
A word about the unun, it really helps tune this antenna to less than 1.5-1 on the LDG tuner. The LDG will tune it to an "acceptable" 1.5-3 without one, but that's not how I role. I get <1.5-1 on all bands 40m and shorter. I cant find a match on 80m, which is annoying but hardly tragic.
So yes, its a 5. It does what it does well. If that's all you want to know, stop reading and buy one. If you want some tips and further info, keep reading.
On the installation, anyone who does this right will spend more than the "less than an hour" time quoted across these reviews. The truth is that measuring, cutting, and soldering/prepping the radials is time consuming. And if you're putting this antenna up in a wooded area, laying those radials down through the brush is a serious pain; which is why you keep reading across these reviews that people will put down a few radials at a time or simply stop after a few.
There are some "hidden costs" when doing anything, and this antenna is no exception. Buying the antenna costs $85 (if you like to futz around and put a kit together and save $6, be my guest - I don't think its worth it). The radial plate and included hardware is around $25, a good deal. Wire ain't cheap, and buying enough 14-gauge wire to cut 32 radials that are about 27'long means you're buying two rolls of the recommended wire at Lowes or Home Dept. Thats $80, nearly the cost of the antenna itself. Buying the recommended pipe is about $20 so you're looking at $200+ deal to get this thing up as recommended.
Here's another hidden cost - buying the right tool to drive the pipe into the ground for mounting. The instructions recommend you use a big hammer and a block of wood to do this. Good luck with that, maybe where you live that's doable, but I don't exactly live on a mountain and my attempts to drive the pipe into the ground resulted in shattered blocks of wood and a pipe 2 inches into the ground. I had to buy a $25 tool to drive the pipe into the soil (a bright-red heavy sleeve with handles that weighs 17 pounds and is used to put chain-link fence posts up). When I was done driving the pipe in, the end needed to be ground down so that the S9 would still fit over it. Be careful, this seemingly easy install step proved harder than I could have imagined.
Also, the included hardware kit has 20 bolts (at least that's how many mine had). You can do 2 radials per bolt, but not with the included hardware and the recommended 14 gauge insulated wire - two pieces of wire simply wont fit through the plastic part of the screw-on terminal. Consider using a finer gauge of wire to do that. Right now I have only 20 radials down (one per bolt) because of this little snafu.
Hidden costs and some snafu's along the way, its still hard not to give this elegant antenna a 5. It performs well, assembles as advertised, and is well-built. |
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| KC9AOP |
Rating:      |
2010-09-26 | |
| S9v 43 Foot Multiband Vertical - IT ONLY GETS BETTER!!! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I reviewed this antenna in July and I still love, love, love it!
This antenna continues to perform and surprise me. I've operated with 8 ground radials for quite a while and I could do a great job of busting through to Europe and the Carribean. I just added another 8 54' ground radials and WOW! My first contact was Cuba (at this point not such a big deal) and the second I made was Peru!! I get great signal reports from everyone I contact and I can hear them with less QRM/QRN than my dipole at 35'.
I do recommend using a 4:1 UNUN (not BALun) for matching. I homebrewed one for 6 to 180 meters, and it really helps to get the antenna happily tuned. I never had troubles tuning it but this bit of matching makes it even faster.
Chicagoland weather has not challenged this antenna. When the warnings of 50mph to 75mph gusts are issued, I just slip it off the mount and lay it down in the yard. It will easily take a stiff 35mph gust and survive well. I suspect ice loading won't be an issue either. This is one robust antenna!
If I could give this a rating of 7 I would. You don't need to debate getting this antenna, you need to get this antenna!
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| K5GIL |
Rating:      |
2010-09-05 | |
| S9v 31' Vertical = excellent antenna! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Installed the 31' S9 Vertical at my QTH, summer project. John K9EX has a GREAT antenna, incredible value, super customer service. Ground mounted using John's instructions and the Radial plate. Only have 4 radials in the grass so far - waiting on cooler WX to install more... First contact was Calgary = 1500 miles SSB on 20M @ 100W! Worked Brazil on 40M PSK31 @ 35W = over 3000 miles! Using the recommended (and fantastic) Balun Designs 4134 unun, fed using (I highly recommend) DavisRF Bury-Flex coax. My LDG AT-11MP V1.6 autotuner has no problems tuning up on any band 80M - 10M (my Icom 735 won't do 6M.) SO easy to take the S9 vertical down before storms, takes less than 15 seconds = reduces the worry of high winds and lightning. I had good success with my W5GI Mystery Antenna (dipole), but the XYL "doesn't like wires", so the stealthiness of the S9v helps keep the peace around the QTH. Lots of ratings of 5 for the S9 antennas on eHam - and here's why: design and build a great product, priced right = great value, and support it well. That spells Happy Hams in my book! Thanks John K9EX and s9antennas.com! |
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| KH6TA |
Rating:      |
2010-09-05 | |
| Great Antenna ! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
KH6TA - O'ahu, Hawaii
Like most hams in Hawaii, I live in a DCCR-restricted development. We love our house and development, but outdoor ham antennas are pretty much kapu (forbidden)!
Secondly, we have a large house & lanai on a small lot, so real estate is slim. The S9v 31' antenna in "tropical green" with the 80m coil was the perfect fit (see pic on my QRZ page)! Got it up just before the Hawaii QSO party, made some great contacts even with NO radials installed yet. Antenna tunes well on all bands, and seems to work best on 20m, which is my favorite band anyway.
Easily put up and taken down in a few minutes so as not to attract nosy neighbors or the "HOA police", it's a winner for me. Many thanks to John for a super antenna at a very competitive price, and superb service!
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| N3PDT |
Rating:      |
2010-08-10 | |
| Great performance, quality, and price |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Recent installation of a 31' S9V has proven to be a great antenna investment. I've got it ground mounted with 16 30' radials down. Got the wire and connectors for another 16 radials, just haven't had the time yet.
Really happy with the construction, instructions and service as well. Like others have mentioned, it's not near as noisy as internet experts would have one believe. I won't pull down my Windom, but the S9V has been a great addition to my antenna choices. |
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| WS3Y |
Rating:      |
2010-07-24 | |
| Update of first review |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I really need to give credit where credit is due.
This 31' S9 does not deserve a 4/5, it deserves a 6/5!!
John (I have no ties to John, I'm just a very happy customer) has come up with a wopper of an antenna!
In 10 years at my QTH I have never gotten out like this. About a week ago I worked Ireland in a heavy pile-up, with no difficulty. Last night I worked, in a heavy pile-up, OX3KQ in Greenland and also Bristol England. I use an Icom 756 Pro, through a Denton tuner and amp and into the S9 with a unun. The set-up works well barefoot, better with the amp for Europe. The antenna hears very, very well (much better than my Comet CHA-250Bx, and the S9 can take 600w, which the Comet can't).
I've worked all over the U.S., save Alaska and Washington. I have no trouble hitting Maine, N.Y., Arizona, Colorado and S.A.
What is amazing is that I have the antenna mounted on a 6' steel pole, about 18 feet AGL on a wooden deck on the rear of my house and have only four elevated radials. Take into consideration that my house is on a hillside and the front of my house is about six feet below street level and you begin to understand what I'm up against with a CCR (the antenna is colored green so it disappears against the trees).
Now consider that I am bounded north, east and west by hills and tall trees and you can see why it has been so difficult for me to work distant stations.
I can only imagine how well this antenna would work with a great ground level radial system on flat terrain.
John has come up with a great antenna that is simple to assemble and erect. He is great at customer service and his direction and suggestions have been right on the mark.
He responds promptly to emails and technical questions.
And all of this comes at a very reasonable price.
If your having trouble DXing, have CCRs or a difficult tropo situation, give this antenna a try. At the price, what have you got to lose?
Thanks John for making ham radio so much fun.
WS3Y |
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