The 6m band is "tuned in" via loaded [1/4 wave on 6m] radial that is adjustable with about 1MHz of bandwidth, the other two supplied radials are 1/4 wave on 2m, and double as 3/4 wave radials on 70cm, which is fine for these two bands. The GP-15 is a single 5/8 on 6m, but the single radial lets it down..
Issues with this configuration, the single 6m radial results in narrow bandwidth, and more importantly, may not properly decouple the antenna from the feed-line! Take a look at:
- Runt radials - This talks about the Diamond X50 and Comet GP-3 with 7" radials [1/4 wave on 70cm] which do nothing on 2m [1/3 of the frequency]. Same theory, since the two 19" radials [1/4 wave on 2m] on the GP-15 do nothing on 6m [1/3 of the frequency].
- Modifications to the Diamond V2000 and similar antennas - This reveals the Diamond V2000 is less than ideal on 6m. Diamond call it a 1/2 wave, which is technically correct, but its more like 1/4 wave with one radial, that performs less than ideally.
- EA4EOZ also did a V2000 teardown, interesting to see what's inside these things.
- Experimenting With 6 Meter Ground Plane Antennas - If these guys have a problem with the single radial on 6m, then it's worth paying some attention to.
Since learning about the compromise radials on these antennas, I decided to try out a set of three full sized 1/4 wave radials for 6m, the comparison:
First with the supplied tuning radial centered around the FM repeater inputs used in Western Washington:
SWR plot on an Icom IC-7300, 50.0 - 54.0 MHz [500KHz steps]. With the supplied tuning radial, the bandwidth is 2MHz at most.
Quite narrow banded! SWR starts to get high at the bottom end of the band with the North American SSB call freq at 50.125. SWR starts to get high again at the upper end of the FM repeater inputs.
Next up, three full sized 1/4 wave radials, I trimmed these until the SWR just started to sneak up from 1:1 at 50.0 MHz:
SWR plot on an Icom IC-7300, 50.0 - 54.0 MHz [500KHz steps]. With three full sized 1/4 wave radials, bandwidth is 3MHz or more.
Very nice, the bandwidth is nearly doubled. The antenna is now usable down to 50.0, and up into the FM repeater inputs in my area.
The 6m 1/4 wave radials I made out of some wire, with lugs crimped, soldered, applied Lanocote, some heat shrink to seal it in, and offer strain relief where the wire is crimped. I attached them between the locking nuts and antenna base where the radials screw in, applied more Lanocote for good measure. The antenna is on a short TV J-Mount on an roof apex, two of the wire radials are laid on the roof which slopes away - note my roof is composite shingle over plywood and not tin/metal as is more common in other countries - the other has a short section of thin nylon rope to hold it up at about the same angle.
I replaced the 6m "tuning" radial with a regular radial like the other two supplied radials - I ordered this directly from Comet, along with three more 19" radials for my Diamond X50 (which came with the 4" radials), total cost with postage $36. Yes they use the same thread and locking nut sizes!
The EA4OEZ V2000 mod replaces the factory radials with an M6 bolt and aluminum tubing which makes the radials self supporting.
I replaced the 6m "tuning" radial with a regular radial like the other two supplied radials - I ordered this directly from Comet, along with three more 19" radials for my Diamond X50 (which came with the 4" radials), total cost with postage $36. Yes they use the same thread and locking nut sizes!
The EA4OEZ V2000 mod replaces the factory radials with an M6 bolt and aluminum tubing which makes the radials self supporting.