Folks,
Hope all is well.
Just getting started in HF after a long hiatus.
Back in my old place, I used a simple vertical (A99) for 10 meters back when conditions were good (~30 years ago). But I lived in a flat area with a clear view of the horizon. I did pretty good with causal DX.
Now, I live down in a hole of a valley between two hills with no real view to the horizon. Hills and trees block my horizon. I have about a 30 degree view from vertical of the horizon.
That being said, I built a fan dipole for 40/20/17/12/10 and its tuned for each of the general segments around 1.2-1.8 swr using my antenna analyzer.
When I tested it near the ground, I could make some distance contacts. But when I raised it up on the roof, I'm deaf!
So I'm thinking its because the takeoff angle has lowered as I've raised it above ground to around 25' and that is what is affecting my TX/RX. It looks like the higher take off angle being close to the ground performed better.
I'd like to place whatever antenna I use on the mast that is on the roof. I have young kids and having the antenna near the ground is not what I'd call ideal.
Given these constraints, any recommendations for antenna designs for HF based on the above bands?
Given I'm at 350' elevation and the hills on both sides of me are at 800'...I don't think I have a whole lot of options.
Any pointers would be appreciated.
Thanks,
-J
Hope all is well.
Just getting started in HF after a long hiatus.
Back in my old place, I used a simple vertical (A99) for 10 meters back when conditions were good (~30 years ago). But I lived in a flat area with a clear view of the horizon. I did pretty good with causal DX.
Now, I live down in a hole of a valley between two hills with no real view to the horizon. Hills and trees block my horizon. I have about a 30 degree view from vertical of the horizon.
That being said, I built a fan dipole for 40/20/17/12/10 and its tuned for each of the general segments around 1.2-1.8 swr using my antenna analyzer.
When I tested it near the ground, I could make some distance contacts. But when I raised it up on the roof, I'm deaf!
So I'm thinking its because the takeoff angle has lowered as I've raised it above ground to around 25' and that is what is affecting my TX/RX. It looks like the higher take off angle being close to the ground performed better.
I'd like to place whatever antenna I use on the mast that is on the roof. I have young kids and having the antenna near the ground is not what I'd call ideal.
Given these constraints, any recommendations for antenna designs for HF based on the above bands?
Given I'm at 350' elevation and the hills on both sides of me are at 800'...I don't think I have a whole lot of options.
Any pointers would be appreciated.
Thanks,
-J