First off, hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas. Now down to the biz. Get the base of the antenna to at least 30ft if possible. 35-40ft to the base of the antenna would be even better. I had mine up to about 27-28ft last it was up and this was going from 20ft to 27-28ft that I noticed the antenna start to work much better it seems. As to why Sirio didn't shunt ground the coil NB is curious to me as well. Maybe cost is the main factor, who knows. At any rate it's an easy mod that can be done to make it a true DC grounded antenna. Involves moving the coup down and re tapping into it and the ground radial hub. A piece of 1/2" flat braid ground and some heat shrink was used.
The antenna is 23.72ft. long per sirio's website @ 7230mm. This most likely includes the base of the antenna. Also the radials are 6.5ft or 2000mm and not full sized 1/4wl radials. Don't know how this affects performance vs. other 5/8 wave antennas of this type with full 1/4wl radials.
I can only go by my experience with the one I had. I will sat this, water does and will collect at the joint of the coil at the bottom where is inserts into the shaft that goes down to the SO239 connector. And also make sure that you use the black caps provided and also some weather proof of sme sort around the coil area joints both top and bottom and all the joining sections as well. Use NO-OX on all joints and make sure all connections or possible points of water intrusion are weather proofed. I would suggest some self amalgamating tape like pictured below for weather proofing all joints as well as all connections.
Use the tuning guide sent by sirio and the antenna will tune correctly the 1st time. Measure 3 times and then tighten the top screw LOL!! Use some blue loctite on all the Allen screws including the coil screws. Take them out and dab a bit of blue locktite on them. All of this is just to keep it from coming apart from being shook around while up in the air. I used heat shrink at all the joints on my NV4K and it at least gives me piece of mind that it's weather proofed at all the joining sections. It might have helped stiffen the antenna up a slight bit as I have not seen it bend like any of the vids I have watched and I swear we have had more than one day of winds that were 15-20mph sustained. My antenna does bend yes, but not as bad as it appears in some of the vids I watched. I didn't do this with the tornado but I believe it would have been more beneficial for it than the NV4K.
Take your time installing it Galaxy 959. They are a great antenna for the cost. Like I said, take your time, mark all your measurements. Assemble the thing flat on the ground and have some help lifting it up onto a piece of pipe or your mast then install the ground radials. Don't forget to use locktite on ALL the Allen head screws. Take all the ones out that are already assembled and put a bit of Blue locktite on them. Promise it is worth the effort!! And don't use red locktite!! It's too much and you will not have fun trying to remove the alien head screws afterwards LOL!! Been there!!
Here is the weather proofing I use and it works well. You don't need to appy any elite jack tape as this stuff only sticks to itself and not your connectors. It really is great weather proofing. Also a photo of the NO-OX I recommend getting if you don't already have some. Hope all this helps and you get the antenna up okay and all goes well! They are a great antenna for a first one and I am glad I had mine! It did a good job for what it was and how I had it setup as far as height goes. Like I said, get it up above 30ft to the feedpoint and should perform well. And yes you are going to notice a difference from the A99! I guarantee that. Less noise, better rx and tx hands down vs the one I had anyway. Maybe my old A99 isn't the best comparison, but the tornado blew it away. It took me 500-600 watts to talk out to about 35 miles with the A99 on SSB and this was just enough!! I could do the same with 100 watts on the tornado and be heard clearly. Just my experience. Yours may vary depending on location and height off the ground to the base of the antenna. Be safe and get as many people to help with lifting the antenna as to not bend it. And hopefully I'll hear you on air soon!!
2OR222 Daytona Beach, FL
Sean. 73 and God bless.
The antenna is 23.72ft. long per sirio's website @ 7230mm. This most likely includes the base of the antenna. Also the radials are 6.5ft or 2000mm and not full sized 1/4wl radials. Don't know how this affects performance vs. other 5/8 wave antennas of this type with full 1/4wl radials.
I can only go by my experience with the one I had. I will sat this, water does and will collect at the joint of the coil at the bottom where is inserts into the shaft that goes down to the SO239 connector. And also make sure that you use the black caps provided and also some weather proof of sme sort around the coil area joints both top and bottom and all the joining sections as well. Use NO-OX on all joints and make sure all connections or possible points of water intrusion are weather proofed. I would suggest some self amalgamating tape like pictured below for weather proofing all joints as well as all connections.
Use the tuning guide sent by sirio and the antenna will tune correctly the 1st time. Measure 3 times and then tighten the top screw LOL!! Use some blue loctite on all the Allen screws including the coil screws. Take them out and dab a bit of blue locktite on them. All of this is just to keep it from coming apart from being shook around while up in the air. I used heat shrink at all the joints on my NV4K and it at least gives me piece of mind that it's weather proofed at all the joining sections. It might have helped stiffen the antenna up a slight bit as I have not seen it bend like any of the vids I have watched and I swear we have had more than one day of winds that were 15-20mph sustained. My antenna does bend yes, but not as bad as it appears in some of the vids I watched. I didn't do this with the tornado but I believe it would have been more beneficial for it than the NV4K.
Take your time installing it Galaxy 959. They are a great antenna for the cost. Like I said, take your time, mark all your measurements. Assemble the thing flat on the ground and have some help lifting it up onto a piece of pipe or your mast then install the ground radials. Don't forget to use locktite on ALL the Allen head screws. Take all the ones out that are already assembled and put a bit of Blue locktite on them. Promise it is worth the effort!! And don't use red locktite!! It's too much and you will not have fun trying to remove the alien head screws afterwards LOL!! Been there!!
Here is the weather proofing I use and it works well. You don't need to appy any elite jack tape as this stuff only sticks to itself and not your connectors. It really is great weather proofing. Also a photo of the NO-OX I recommend getting if you don't already have some. Hope all this helps and you get the antenna up okay and all goes well! They are a great antenna for a first one and I am glad I had mine! It did a good job for what it was and how I had it setup as far as height goes. Like I said, get it up above 30ft to the feedpoint and should perform well. And yes you are going to notice a difference from the A99! I guarantee that. Less noise, better rx and tx hands down vs the one I had anyway. Maybe my old A99 isn't the best comparison, but the tornado blew it away. It took me 500-600 watts to talk out to about 35 miles with the A99 on SSB and this was just enough!! I could do the same with 100 watts on the tornado and be heard clearly. Just my experience. Yours may vary depending on location and height off the ground to the base of the antenna. Be safe and get as many people to help with lifting the antenna as to not bend it. And hopefully I'll hear you on air soon!!
2OR222 Daytona Beach, FL
Sean. 73 and God bless.
