30 Meter Vertical Antenna

The 30 meter band is pretty interesting.  At 10.1 MHz, it is between the 40 and 20 meter bands. Propagation-wise it more closely resembles the 40 meter band.  For a while I used antennas for other bands with a tuner to get on 30.  Eventually I decided on a vertical antenna because they are pretty good DX antennas on the low bands providing you have a good radial system. This antenna has proved very effective for working DX on 30 meters, and is much better than what I was using.  I am often amazed how quickly I can break pile ups running only 100 watts into it.

The vertical is made of about 23' of 1" diameter aluminum tubing I had lying around. A 4"X4" post cemented into the ground forms the base.  A length of PVC tubing is used at the lower part of the antenna to insulate it from the post and to add a bit more strength.  

This is a close up of the vertical base. The aluminum tubing can be seen coming out of the bottom of the PVC tubing which insulates it from the wood post.  The aluminum tubing is resting on a piece of Teflon which acts as an insulator.  

The radials are attached to 4" lengths of angle aluminum mounted on the post.  This is a lot less expensive than a commercial radial plate. There are 60 radials, each about 25' long.   

In the back is a loop of the coax feed line that acts as an RF choke.