Home Brew Carolina Windom 40

I have been experimenting with wire antennas since I got my technician ticket in November of 2010 and it realy took off when I passed my general in Jan of 2011. I have been reading and researching trying different things and this is my latest attempt at making a wire antenna.  My idea here was to build a home brew version of the Carolina Windom 40 (http://www.radioworks.com/ccw40.html) which sells for $140 ....
Here is my parts list
100 foot roll of 14 gauge Poly Stealth wire $24 (expensive but I think its worth it) (HRO)
30 feet of RG213 $30 (HRO)
PL259 - SO239 $6 (HRO)
Insulators $3 (HRO)
Unadilla 4:1 balun $30 (HRO)
2 feet 4" corrugated drain pipe and caps $7 (sprinkler world)
Total $100
Now you could save some money by using cheaper coax than RG213 but I a chunk laying around so I didn't incur the cost on this build
I am not going to sit here and write how to build this antenna because that has been done and done again on the Internet so do a little research.  Its not rocket science ....
Here is my plan
25 foot and 41 foot horizontal radiator connected to the 4:1 balun
Create a 1:1 air choke (ugly balun) http://www.hamuniverse.com/balun.html
with a 10 foot length of coax on top side to connect to the 4:1 balun
Put it all together and your done
My Ugly Balun

The 4:1 balun

My 4:1 attached to the pole before raising

Finally one of the horizontal legs tied off to my back wall

More to come on this antenna as I test it and see how it performs. First impression seems to be a good performer even though I have in set up in less than optimal conditions (only 16 feet off the ground @ center)
Stay tuned more to come
Kelly
k7pwt
 

S9v31 and homebrew radial plate

Well I finished my install of my S9 31 foot vertical last weekend and have been doing some testing on it boy is this a nice antenna. Being a new ham I dont have a anything but my other antennas to compare it to but I like it. The radial plate is made from 4 ground bus bars purchased at Home Depot for about $5 each then I used some large copper hog rings to lash them together into a square. Nothing fancy but it works.  I did start off my install with 8 - 26' 9" radials and to say the least I was really disappointed in the antennas performance. My 58' long wire was hearing better than this new vertical so it was off to Home Depot to get more wire. I laid down another 8 radials and this thing came to life and big .... It is the best antenna I have used yet.  If you have any questions let me know and I will try to answer them.  Pictures of the install below

Looking up the S9v31

My Radial Plate

Wider shot of the radials