You have that backwards. The SO-239 goes towards the radio end of things and the wing nut terminals are where the ladderline connects to and runs out to the antenna.
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10 to 40 long wire ant
- Thread starter snow bird
- Start date
You have that backwards. The SO-239 goes towards the radio end of things and the wing nut terminals are where the ladderline connects to and runs out to the antenna.
That’s what I meant, or what I thought I said, I probably used too many words as usual and made my question convulsive
Does anyone know the right answer though?
Does anyone know the right answer though?
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Kevin: How are you getting your coax and or your ground wires into the shack presently?
Well, guess he just left as I posted this, and let him know I was on the Chat page also.
Catch you later
All the Best
Gary
I also wanted to know when he took his General Test, if last weekend by mid-week he may have his callsign!
Well, guess he just left as I posted this, and let him know I was on the Chat page also.
Catch you later
All the Best
Gary
I also wanted to know when he took his General Test, if last weekend by mid-week he may have his callsign!
You do not want any coax between the tuner and the antenna. I ran coax thru the house to a remote mounted auto-tuner with the balun between the output of the tuner and the ladder line. My auto tuner was designed for mounting outside and is weatherproof.
Okay.
Currently I have RG8 going through a pvc pipe I drilled and I painted on the outside it to make it tidy and match my trailer. This runs to my Maco V58 underground in pvc. And yes I know I can’t do this with the ladder line.
I do not have a ground yet. I have the wire, and I’m picking up a grounding rod when I get the rest of the items to make the doublet this week. This is my first ham radio, before this it was all CB stuff.
I found another tutorial on ways to run the ladder line through the wall. I’m still undecided yet on wether I want to run 2 pieces of coax through, then convert it back to ladder, or I may just remove a piece of the metal siding and replace it with a section of wood so I can drill a nice hole. (We are going to be adding an addition to this particular wall in the next couple years so it’s ok).
Currently I have RG8 going through a pvc pipe I drilled and I painted on the outside it to make it tidy and match my trailer. This runs to my Maco V58 underground in pvc. And yes I know I can’t do this with the ladder line.
I do not have a ground yet. I have the wire, and I’m picking up a grounding rod when I get the rest of the items to make the doublet this week. This is my first ham radio, before this it was all CB stuff.
I found another tutorial on ways to run the ladder line through the wall. I’m still undecided yet on wether I want to run 2 pieces of coax through, then convert it back to ladder, or I may just remove a piece of the metal siding and replace it with a section of wood so I can drill a nice hole. (We are going to be adding an addition to this particular wall in the next couple years so it’s ok).
Yup those are all nice.
By the way those antenna tuners you listed for me are sold. If you run across any more deals lmk
By the way those antenna tuners you listed for me are sold. If you run across any more deals lmk
That tilt base is a blessing especially when tuning the antenna. I bought it with my Hustler 5BTV vertical. I didn't get the radial plate however as I have some stainless on hand and made my own however I should have made it bigger. That might happen later this fall or next spring when I add some more radials to the 32 I already have.
Kevin: I linked those to your thread, only as a reference. These just give ideas on how to do things. Yes, these products make the world easier, however, there are always other ways to do the job.
I like CK, that "tilt-base" set-up is slick.
All the Best
Gary
PS: Hear anything special on the new antennas, any observations?
I like CK, that "tilt-base" set-up is slick.
All the Best
Gary
PS: Hear anything special on the new antennas, any observations?
Yes indeed.
First day I found that my inverted dipole out performed this vertical by a margin, even after the sun went down and I kind of regretted putting forth so much effort into it for what I got out of it.
However yesterday was a different story. It outperformed my dipole and the margin was pretty significant. I don’t know if it was the conditions, or the fact that I added a few more ground radials but I have discovered that it’s worth keeping.
I found that this radio has an emergency mode . Once selected you restart the radio and it will reduce to half power but it will make the tuner much more forgiving and allow you a 10:1 match verses the normal 3:1 and allow access to many of the other bands. I was able to access 80 meter and 20 merer for the first time ever. There was a lot of activity on 20. Enough to make me keep striving.
I am hoping that the tuner will make enough difference to allow me access to the other bands. It should be here Tuesday.
Right now I am trying to research a vertical random wire and see what’s involved in making one of those, after surveying our property yesterday I feel I have a much better chance of getting a vertical high verses an inverted v due to the layout of the trees. it would be best being end fed, I’m not certain I can come out of the center with the ladder line being horizontal. My other choice is to compromise and make a better inverted v but it would only be about 40 feet up at the feedpoint. However it would be out in the clear, away from the trees completely. A vertical random wire could be put up much higher, but I just do not have a lot of room to play if I went that route, plus any type of radials would be out of the question.
My original goal was to put a horizontal dipole up between the trees about 70 feet, but after walking around it seems impossible to be able to get the wire up and across to the top of those due to the adjacent obstructions
First day I found that my inverted dipole out performed this vertical by a margin, even after the sun went down and I kind of regretted putting forth so much effort into it for what I got out of it.
However yesterday was a different story. It outperformed my dipole and the margin was pretty significant. I don’t know if it was the conditions, or the fact that I added a few more ground radials but I have discovered that it’s worth keeping.
I found that this radio has an emergency mode . Once selected you restart the radio and it will reduce to half power but it will make the tuner much more forgiving and allow you a 10:1 match verses the normal 3:1 and allow access to many of the other bands. I was able to access 80 meter and 20 merer for the first time ever. There was a lot of activity on 20. Enough to make me keep striving.
I am hoping that the tuner will make enough difference to allow me access to the other bands. It should be here Tuesday.
Right now I am trying to research a vertical random wire and see what’s involved in making one of those, after surveying our property yesterday I feel I have a much better chance of getting a vertical high verses an inverted v due to the layout of the trees. it would be best being end fed, I’m not certain I can come out of the center with the ladder line being horizontal. My other choice is to compromise and make a better inverted v but it would only be about 40 feet up at the feedpoint. However it would be out in the clear, away from the trees completely. A vertical random wire could be put up much higher, but I just do not have a lot of room to play if I went that route, plus any type of radials would be out of the question.
My original goal was to put a horizontal dipole up between the trees about 70 feet, but after walking around it seems impossible to be able to get the wire up and across to the top of those due to the adjacent obstructions
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Kevin: Those TALL trees are your friends!! A rope over a big fork in one of those trees makes a great place to pull the center up of your Inverted V doublet!.
My antenna "Launcher" is an H/D 6 ft+ long fishing pole. I use small "Kite String" maybe 80 lbs. test rated twine. I can get couple hundred feet on an old Salt-water reel. I then use a heavy bell or long catfish sinker on the end. Give it a big heave at a larger fork in the trees. Takes practice. I have over time gotten pretty good at it. Then once I have a spot I like, I cut the sinker off and tie a bigger size twine or small rope and use the reel and rod to pull it back over the limb.
Then tie on my final rope, like 3/8ths or 1/2 inch Double Dacron pulling rope. Now you have a great place to tie the center of the inverted V!!!
Yes, conditions are everything. You have already seen how different antennas react to changing conditions. You have already seen how with these changing conditions, where one antenna has a better "capture" angle than another at any given time.
NO, your effort was not wasted. Now you look for ways to improve your design, and maximize your signal, so "Mother Nature" does not affect it by rain/wind/corrosion, etc.
A well set-up 40/15m vertical is a good antenna, then add your 130' ft inverted V Doublet and a good manual tuner you will have a nice system, that will give you good service.
Believe me when I say, in this era of "Buy it off the RACK" antenna systems some call great.
You will "Stomp" them into the dust!
Your journey is just beginning!
Many here to help!
All the Best
Gary
PS: PM, me your address if you like then I can look to see if there is a good Sattelite view and can give you some ideas.
My antenna "Launcher" is an H/D 6 ft+ long fishing pole. I use small "Kite String" maybe 80 lbs. test rated twine. I can get couple hundred feet on an old Salt-water reel. I then use a heavy bell or long catfish sinker on the end. Give it a big heave at a larger fork in the trees. Takes practice. I have over time gotten pretty good at it. Then once I have a spot I like, I cut the sinker off and tie a bigger size twine or small rope and use the reel and rod to pull it back over the limb.
Then tie on my final rope, like 3/8ths or 1/2 inch Double Dacron pulling rope. Now you have a great place to tie the center of the inverted V!!!
Yes, conditions are everything. You have already seen how different antennas react to changing conditions. You have already seen how with these changing conditions, where one antenna has a better "capture" angle than another at any given time.
NO, your effort was not wasted. Now you look for ways to improve your design, and maximize your signal, so "Mother Nature" does not affect it by rain/wind/corrosion, etc.
A well set-up 40/15m vertical is a good antenna, then add your 130' ft inverted V Doublet and a good manual tuner you will have a nice system, that will give you good service.
Believe me when I say, in this era of "Buy it off the RACK" antenna systems some call great.
You will "Stomp" them into the dust!
Your journey is just beginning!
Many here to help!
All the Best
Gary
PS: PM, me your address if you like then I can look to see if there is a good Sattelite view and can give you some ideas.
A couple of years ago when I first experimented with a vertical homemade bazooka dipole for the 11 m band, I was able to take a small slingshot that I still have, and I shot a rock over top of the tree tied to fishing string. Once I found the rock in the field outback, I tied the Dacron rope to the fishing string and then pulled it back.
I then went back to my original starting position, tied the dipole to the Dacron then went back out into the field and pulled it up to the height needed . Which was about 80 feet at the top of the 17 foot dipole made from pvc. But in those days I did not really have a good understanding of SWR and how it changes at height, it was unusable and I was unable to bring it back down to do any adjustments so I abandoned that project but I did prove to myself that I can indeed, with a little practice, get something up to the top of that tree.
My only hesitation now is, if I attempt to raise an inverted v that high into the tree, there’s going to be a lot of different unwanted angles due to all the branches and leaves. It’s a very thick tree with lots of limbs and branches,,,,, and lrpeaves. It’s going to be pretty difficult to get my v shape to come out correctly. This probably would have been a much better undertaking if I would’ve performed it in the winter months .
The know for a fact I can get the horizontal dipole up and over the top of the tree, but I’m afraid that it’s going to end up more like a slinky taking on different angles, not really a horizontal nor an inverted V but a cross in between perhaps. And then there will still be the issue of getting my ladder line pulled down correctly .
I know this is a lot of words to try to digest .
Not to certain if this is going to work out well?
I then went back to my original starting position, tied the dipole to the Dacron then went back out into the field and pulled it up to the height needed . Which was about 80 feet at the top of the 17 foot dipole made from pvc. But in those days I did not really have a good understanding of SWR and how it changes at height, it was unusable and I was unable to bring it back down to do any adjustments so I abandoned that project but I did prove to myself that I can indeed, with a little practice, get something up to the top of that tree.
My only hesitation now is, if I attempt to raise an inverted v that high into the tree, there’s going to be a lot of different unwanted angles due to all the branches and leaves. It’s a very thick tree with lots of limbs and branches,,,,, and lrpeaves. It’s going to be pretty difficult to get my v shape to come out correctly. This probably would have been a much better undertaking if I would’ve performed it in the winter months .
The know for a fact I can get the horizontal dipole up and over the top of the tree, but I’m afraid that it’s going to end up more like a slinky taking on different angles, not really a horizontal nor an inverted V but a cross in between perhaps. And then there will still be the issue of getting my ladder line pulled down correctly .
I know this is a lot of words to try to digest .
Not to certain if this is going to work out well?
Gary I sent you a message But it wasn’t until after I sent it that I saw that you had already sent me some information, so just disregard the new conversation I started. I replied to your original p.m.
Yup, was entered in the database yesterday, I can finally DX