I’m just making the leap into HF (I already have the general license) with an ICOM 7300. For space and other reasons, I’ve decided on a vertical antenna, and I want the installation to be permanent; in other words, I don’t want to have to set up and tear down every time I want to get on the air. I already have the vertical antenna on hand, and I’ve ordered a tilt base from DX Engineering because we get a lot of wind in the spring.
Now on to my questions:
How far away from the house or other building does it need to be?
I will need to bury the coax. Does it need to be in conduit or other protective tubing, or can I just bury it as is?
I can’t give you 100% accurate answer to your first question. I personally would try to keep it reasonably close to keep your coax run length to a minimum. My one permanent antenna is for my 50W VHF/UHF and I have that about 25 feet away from my house and it is buried. My HF antennas are changed around as I live in an HOA so they are not very tall, most are about 25-30 feet from the house. I only push out 100W max on my 7300 for HF. Those coaxes are not buried. As to the second question, you can direct bury coax as long as it is rated for direct burial. Many are. They only need to be buried a few inches deep. Mine is about six inches down. Hope this helps. 73 Chris KM4ZJB
I use a 43 ft ZeroFive vertical myself due to very limited space and a need to keep it out of view to keep the XYL happy. I use a DXengineering radial plate that has about 50 radials attached. I only have a space about 15 x 15 feet to lay them all down so under the sod it resembles more like a grid of various lengths running in more haphazard directions than i care to count. I just stapled them down on the surface and within a few months the sod sucked them up. But the antenna works well and so long as propagation exists to grid CN88, I can pretty much work what I’m able to hear. I do use an amplifier which runs 800W output but much of the time it isn’t necessary. My coax is not buried because the antenna is located two feet from the house and then runs under the house in the crawl space. If you check me out on WRL you’ll see a photo of the installation. I’ve been at it for 60 years and have enjoyed the experience of doing this with a very compromised setup for the last 20 years. I achieved DXCC #1 status before moving here but even at that I’m over 300 confirmed from here with my vertical so if you think you’ll ever become a DX’er, you’ll have a blast. If not, you’ll still have a blast! It’s a “whatever floats your boat” hobby! Enjoy your ride and see you on the bands. 73’s de WW7Q