TESTIMONIAL
I am lucky enough to have one of Bill’s ‘Grunter’ series antennas. Mine is the Grunter-227, a DXpedition-style vertical made from lengths of aluminium tubing which slide into each other, held together with simple nuts and bolts. By changing the top length of tubing, this antenna is resonant on 15m, 18m and 20m bands. Lightweight, quick & easy to assemble, it is also sturdy enough, when guyed, to leave up as a permanent installation, and so far has stood up to 35 knots of wind. It takes me less than five minutes to switch bands, no ladder required! This is a terrific antenna for a YL or older person to handle, and I have christened her “Guenther”. Bill’s vertical Grunter antennas work so well because he gives them plenty of ‘Grunt’ = radials. For the 20m band, this means at least one radial every 10 degrees. Because of my sandy island QTH, I have shallow-buried the radials and sprinkled Bentonite (kitty litter) around the base, so that 20 minutes of watering with the sprinkler will give me hours of conductivity. Prior to getting the Grunter-227, I was using a Diamond CP6 multiband vertical for 15m and 20m. The difference in signal reports is clearly visible in my log. 339s and 4/2s suddenly become 559 and 5/7. This is an extremely quiet QTH yet the difference in the amount of noise picked up by the CP6 and the Grunter-227 is really noticeable. On 40m I’ve even used the Grunter-227 to Rx crystal clear, then Tx on the CP6.
Thank you, Bill for a terrific little antenna!
VK4SWE on Sweers Island, IOTA OC-227
VK4FW QSL Printing Service posted me an email offering to provide full-colour, glossy QSL’s for a really good price. I was skeptical, as I had never heard of them before! Based on price, I ordered 2000 cards. They arrived a few weeks later…and was I pleasantly surprised that the quality was top-class…real value for money is hard to find these days, but, you will get it from Bill. Give him a try!
Eddie DeYoung
Eddie VK4AN 3D2A