Friday, April 27, 2012
Flagploe
When you live in the HOA world there is not much antenna work to be done, but I have decided to move my 5btv vertical from the side of the house to a flagpole configuration in the front yard. I hope this will work a little better with a bit more wide open space. I have the base set and radials cut but due to rain not much else will happen outside for a day or two.
So will move inside and work on the antenna, I have removed all the hose clamps and replaced with self tapping screws, this will make the antenna more ridged a better support the PVC pipe that will turn it into a flagpole. Well I got all the spacers on the antenna that makes it fit the pipe nice and tight...and low and behold I had a break in the weather this afternoon and it is done......seems to work as well as any trap vertical so here it is....U.S. Navy flag under Old Glory....73
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Hidden Antennas
Ok , so I had my say about HOAs CC&Rs so now I will talk a bit about how I have my antennas situated in my restricted world. I run low power here never more than the standard 100w rig will produce. I know many guys that have attic and close proximity antennas run more power, and I know that some struggle with RFI problems. It is my own choice to avoid those problems with the low power option.
Another problem with the city life is the noise generated by any number of RF generating items, in my world that would be plasma TV, washer and dryer, routers, and the list goes on and on. When you install antennas in the house attic you will deal with these issues all the time. Also vertical antennas are good and can be disguised easily but it seems all noise is vertically polarized - it seems that way, so expect some noise issues there as well.
Antennas mounted low to the ground, such as my fence antenna will work well in some cases but the radiation pattern will be more up than out. I find that my 200 foot wire mounted on the fence about six feet off the ground works great for 500 to 1000 miles on 40 and 80 no dx antenna however.
A good antenna tuner or two is a must, so keep that in mind as well. There are many options here and mine may not be the best but they keep me contesting and DXing the things I like to do most...VHF and UHF are easy for local simplex and repeater operations they fit about anywhere.
I have two antennas for 20, 15, 10 and 6m in the attic, they are both multi band dipoles one running North/South and one running East/West and a 6m delta loop also in the attic.
The 200 foot wire on the fence is configured as an end fed wire using a home built balun, it is a large
"U" shape. I also have a 5BTV vertical that is installed way to close to the house but out of sight, it will soon be a flagpole in the front yard. My best antenna is a 100 foot long wire that has to be put up and down so as not to be seen in the daylight hours that runs from the peak of my roof to a tree, it is also end fed with a balun. I use this antenna in the winter for 40, 80, and yes 160.
So with all this rambling I hope you can find some place to hide your antennas and keep on hamming, as with some of us baby boomers moving to more of a retirement community setting we will need to use the old work around to stay on the air...it's not the end of the world.....73
Another problem with the city life is the noise generated by any number of RF generating items, in my world that would be plasma TV, washer and dryer, routers, and the list goes on and on. When you install antennas in the house attic you will deal with these issues all the time. Also vertical antennas are good and can be disguised easily but it seems all noise is vertically polarized - it seems that way, so expect some noise issues there as well.
Antennas mounted low to the ground, such as my fence antenna will work well in some cases but the radiation pattern will be more up than out. I find that my 200 foot wire mounted on the fence about six feet off the ground works great for 500 to 1000 miles on 40 and 80 no dx antenna however.
A good antenna tuner or two is a must, so keep that in mind as well. There are many options here and mine may not be the best but they keep me contesting and DXing the things I like to do most...VHF and UHF are easy for local simplex and repeater operations they fit about anywhere.
I have two antennas for 20, 15, 10 and 6m in the attic, they are both multi band dipoles one running North/South and one running East/West and a 6m delta loop also in the attic.
The 200 foot wire on the fence is configured as an end fed wire using a home built balun, it is a large
"U" shape. I also have a 5BTV vertical that is installed way to close to the house but out of sight, it will soon be a flagpole in the front yard. My best antenna is a 100 foot long wire that has to be put up and down so as not to be seen in the daylight hours that runs from the peak of my roof to a tree, it is also end fed with a balun. I use this antenna in the winter for 40, 80, and yes 160.
So with all this rambling I hope you can find some place to hide your antennas and keep on hamming, as with some of us baby boomers moving to more of a retirement community setting we will need to use the old work around to stay on the air...it's not the end of the world.....73
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