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Adding radials to attic verticle antenna

Spirittalk

Member
Dec 19, 2006
28
0
11
Another project I am looking into, is adding radials to a verticle antenna for 11 meter band.

The antenna is 6 feet tall and has a 3 foot horizontal boom.
I have found a couple of 10 meter attic antenna farms after a google search.

Can anybody provide any tips or URL's to good antenna farm projects either for the attic or will be ok in the attic.

I have bought a big drum of elecrical wire and also coax for making radials.

Will I require any extra grounding for this attic antenna farm.

Does anybody have any ideas.

Can I adapt the horizontal boom by adding coils ect ?

I have around 18 feet of horizontal attic space I can play with so any suggestions will bbe most welcome.

I have also calculated the measurements for a full length couterpoise, 17:4 feet ( dont do metric lol )

How would this best be added to a factory built antenna?
 

Okay, I see what you have now. The horizontal part of the antenna ~is~ the 'radials', or another word for it is the 'counterpoise', the 'other half' of the antenna. From looking at the picture I'd say the 'radial'/'counterpoise' is also a helically wound, loaded element of the antenna. So, additional radials wouldn't be needed. If you just wanted to try it to see what happened, adding an additional 'leg' where the 'radial' is connected, but slanting in the opposite direction, should work, maybe. Finding the 'correct' length for that additional radial since it wouldn't be loaded as the original one, might be lots of 'fun'. One of those check it then trim it thingys.


Unless I'm still 'missing' something?


Something else you might try since you have the miles of wire, is a full wave 'loop' in your 'loft' (we really do know what the right words are, even if we don't use them!). Doesn't have to be any particular shape, but the more 'area' you can get inside of the loop, the better it is. About 36 feet total so 9 feet on four sides, or 12 feet on three sides, or some rectangular shape sort of close to a square and you figure out what each side measures. Feed it with an electrical 1/4 wave of 75 ohm coax as a matching section and it ought to present something close to 50 ohms to your radio.
An even better idea would be to find a copy of something like the 'ARRL's "Antenna Compendium" somewhere. Lots of antenna ideas in those.
- 'Doc
 
i once made a full size loop in my kitchen suspended it from the cieling approximately 10" with string and thumb tacks worked pretty good. could talk locally up to about 15 miles which suprised me as most of the people i was chatting with were vertically polarized. wasn't a booming signal but it got out. you could even do it on a wall for vert. polarization. with all that wire possibilities are endless.
 

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