The VG4 is up

 Finally got the new antenna, the VG4, up and running. Mostly, because the Imax has apparently opened up it's coil.  Gotta break that down and see what happened The poor thing is nigh on 30 years old, so, I did get my money's worth out of it.  Still like to know what happened, though.

Anyway, the new antenna is a Xingu VG4... ostensibly a four band trap antenna... designed to work on 40, 20,15, and 10m. Oddly enough, it works on 6 as well, as you'll see.  The thing is ideal for small lot installations, RV/POTA work, Field days and so on.  zI've got a very tiny back yard so this was ideal for me.

Here's the specs:

Use frequency band: 7/14/21/28MHz (40m/20m/15m/10m)
Axial length: about 7.8m | 25.6ft
Radial length: about 2.7m | 8.8ft
Maximum power handling: 1000W PEP (CW500W, RTTY300W)
Antenna impedance: 50Ω
VSWR：＜1.5:1
Antenna bandwidth: 40m: 150kHz / 20m: 450kHz / 15m: 800kHz / 10m: 1000kHz
Rated wind speed: 35 m/s
Antenna interface type: SL16-K
Weight: about 7.0kg | 15.4lb
Package size: 13x13x120cm | 0.4x0.4x3.9ft
Erection height: the distance from the ground is more than 3m (10ft)

Mine is mounted on 15ft worth of Aluminum masting.

With three folks working it took about 2 hours, click to clunk. Everything is well marked. Antenna looks very strong indeed, and gives me some confidence that it will put up with the winds around here.

Didn't get a chance to do a sweep from the shack until the next day, and here's the results.

SWR sweep, 40m:

Freq:   7.001        7.100        7.2        7.3

SWR 1.0             2.6         3.6            5.5

Obviously, the 40m element will need to be shortened.   Just as obviously, the Q on this band is quite a bit higher on the others. The spec shows 15KHz.... though I suspect it's usable outside that once you get it trimmed up.

 SWR sweep  20m:

Freq:   14.0      14.1           14.2       14.3     14.35

SWR 1.0            1.01         1.05       1.3        1.7

 20m could stand to be shortened, also, but it's not super critical.

SWR sweep, 15m:

 Freq:    21.0        21.1        21.2        21.3     21.4

SWR:  1.7            1.2        1.0            1.0      1.15  

Nice. Nothing worrisome here.

 

SWR sweep, 10m:

 Freq:    28.0        28.1        28.2        28.3 thru  29.7    

SWR:  1.1            1.12        1.12        <1.2               

Again, nothing worrisome here.

 Just for laughs, let's check out the other bands.

17m   just over 3:1 for the whole band. My wideband tuner should be able to deal with it. 

12m Just over 3:1 for the entire band. Again, should be OK with the wideband tuner.  

Now, every review I've read on this thing says it works OK on 6m.  So, let's sweep it and see.

 

Freq:    50.0            50.1        50.2        50.3     50.4      50.5    50.6     50.7  50.8   50.9    51.0 to 51.2

SWR:  4.1             4.1            3.23         3.0        2.9        2.7    2.5        2.     1.6       2.3    1.0

 

From 51.2,  the reflection goes up in a fairly linear fashion to 3.1 at 52 mhz, and then starts dropping off again, and again, in fairly smooth curve, until 53.400 where it's back to 1:1 and suddenly peaks slightly to around 2:1.to 54MHz All of it at least marginally usable.

Now, how efficient it is at the various bands, I won't know for some weeks. I can tell you I ran the local 10m net with no issue. It does a surprisingly good job on 10m with groundwave signals... apparenly the top loaded design helps a lot.  I did manage to work some Dx with it as well. so I'm pleased so far.

More as I find.