The antenna install was straight forward following the manual’s instructions. The rain gutter lead, between the rain gutter and Alpha stake supported unit, is supported approximately 18-inches about the landscaped ground.

The manual states to NOT run the rain gutter lead parallel to the antenna cable that connects to the radio. I did a dry run with the antenna lead and the rain gutter lead prior to commencing with the install to avoid that issue.

The SWR was near 1.0 to 1.2 on both 7 and 14 MHZ (bands 40 & 20) using my MFJ-949E tuner at 25 watts TX. Tuning is very similar to a magnetic loop antenna as the tuned point is very narrow and surprisingly a very low SWR at that lowest point. The Yaesu FT-891 SWR meter bars went to “zero” however the antenna turner’s SWR meter guided my tuning to the lowest SWR.

I was hearing stations from just about all over the US and a few Euro stations, at times, with up to 5/5 signal readability.

The 110 feet of rain gutter, with all joints electrically connected and measuring approximately zero ohms from end to end are located in NW-NE directions. Picture the rain gutter as an inverted letter “U”. The 50 foot horizontal section is approximately 30 above ground (earth) with each 30 foot vertical downspout not in contact with the ground.

It was late so I did not wait for an open net nor performed any CQ’s, just SWR adjusting then sweeping the two bands for traffic.

I am interested in seting up for FT8 as a challenge with this Alpha antenna. More setting up and learning for sure. Mostly learning the FT8 program and adjusting my Yaesu FT-891. After all, it is a hobby!!

Thank you Alpha Antenna for your assistance and looking forward to fine tuning my knowledge with the Alpha HOA buster antenna.

The ease of the install, easy to follow instructions, Alpha Antenna’s great support and the quality build of the HOA Buster Antenna earned my highest rating.

KE0UWN