This is a follow up review. I installed the S9-31′ vertical a few months ago. It was out of frustration that decided to try this antenna. My various attempts at dipoles in my small city lot were not very good. I have no trees or other supports to get above the average tree canopy or roof lines of nearby homes. My antennas always ended up with an NVIS pattern – not what I was looking for. Out of frustration I purchased the S9, hoping that the 31′ straight up would put some signal at the horizon. The install took about 2 hours including running the coax. I mounted along the center of a 100′ long chain link fence, with the ground radial connected to both the antenna and the fence. I mounted the bottom of the antenna into a metal military camo support pole – a perfect fit it turns out, just like it was made for it. A couple of heavy-duty hose clamps secure the metal camo pole to a support pole on the fence. It is a clean install that is hard to see from the street (nice). I run a Yaesu FT-817ND (5 Watts) into a small MFJ Tuner, and mostly run PSK-31. Before the S9 my dipoles seemed to favor North South (no matter how I oriented them). Now the coverage is truly Omni directional, allowing my first Japan contact. Lots more contacts into Europe & Russia than before, and still have the same great signal into South America. Probably the best testimony I have is that this summer my area (Northern Illinois) was twice his with 90+ MPH straight line winds that tore up my roof and downed trees all over the area. My S9 stood tall and undamaged. Perhaps the only thing that would have changed that was flying debris, but I was lucky, and none hit it. I plan to buy a second S9 for my field day set-up.
N9APD

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