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Beginner ham antenna questions
- Thread starter bhayles
- Start date
OK...gave up on getting the fan dipole up...TEMPORARILY! One local Ham loaned me a G5RV and another gave me an old style MFJ Versa Tuner that apparently gets passed around to newbies around here to help them get on the air...
The issue with the fan dipole is unsupported weight at the middle collector. From about 35 feet on up, pulling from two trees 160 feet apart, I am pulling "out" as much as I am pulling up. I actually broke the cover layer on mil spec 550 cord trying to get the antenna high enough.
So...I'm going to build two more antennas and then get back to re-doing the fan dipole to make it lighter and take another shot at getting it up. First, I'm going to build a full wave ladder line fed longwire for 80 meters to replace the "Shorty" G5RV so I can return it to its owner. I'll run that light antenna up to about 70 feet as I had originally planned for the fan dipole, then...
I'll build a full wave equalateral triangular loop fed by the point pointing east, aimed at Europe.
THEN I'll get back to the fan dipole project. Its just temporarily on hold...it WILL get done...and work!
The issue with the fan dipole is unsupported weight at the middle collector. From about 35 feet on up, pulling from two trees 160 feet apart, I am pulling "out" as much as I am pulling up. I actually broke the cover layer on mil spec 550 cord trying to get the antenna high enough.
So...I'm going to build two more antennas and then get back to re-doing the fan dipole to make it lighter and take another shot at getting it up. First, I'm going to build a full wave ladder line fed longwire for 80 meters to replace the "Shorty" G5RV so I can return it to its owner. I'll run that light antenna up to about 70 feet as I had originally planned for the fan dipole, then...
I'll build a full wave equalateral triangular loop fed by the point pointing east, aimed at Europe.
THEN I'll get back to the fan dipole project. Its just temporarily on hold...it WILL get done...and work!
Trees sway in the Breeze and the Dipole needs to move with them. Secure one sides Guy rope to the tree Fast. On the opposite end run the Guy rope through a pulley and put enough weight on the rope to maintain tension. I use closeline pully and an old Maxwell House coffee jug with some rocks in it. As the tree moves the line slips the pulley keeping the dipole taunt. Hope this helps.
YOu can try an OCF windom antenna with that antenna tuner it will probably perform better than that G5RV,
http://www.tdars.org.uk/library/backyard wire antennaes.pdf
Do some reading and see what you think is best for your install.
http://www.tdars.org.uk/library/backyard wire antennaes.pdf
Do some reading and see what you think is best for your install.
Maybe shorten it with loading coils? Am thinking of it myself and doing a fan dipole 10ga wire, and use 10ga copper enameled magnetic wire for coils.
No folks...I did not die. Just close.
I haven't changed my HF antenna setup since last post as I've had some health issues, but I'mn bach and working on that fan dipole, getting its center weight down.
I have added a Kenwood 271A to the shack and took the easy way out and put up a J=Pole on the same mast as my A-99...for now. Warmer weather will see a 2M beam in the sky.
I've come to the conclusion that no center support, just poor man's towers at each end of a wire antenna, is nt a good idea, and since I can't afford a real, commercially built tower I'm going to homebrew a 35-50 foot or so foldover homebrew tower. I have to wait for a few warm days to start that project though as I won't pour concrete in temps under 50 degrees.
I haven't changed my HF antenna setup since last post as I've had some health issues, but I'mn bach and working on that fan dipole, getting its center weight down.
I have added a Kenwood 271A to the shack and took the easy way out and put up a J=Pole on the same mast as my A-99...for now. Warmer weather will see a 2M beam in the sky.
I've come to the conclusion that no center support, just poor man's towers at each end of a wire antenna, is nt a good idea, and since I can't afford a real, commercially built tower I'm going to homebrew a 35-50 foot or so foldover homebrew tower. I have to wait for a few warm days to start that project though as I won't pour concrete in temps under 50 degrees.
One of my early dipole set-ups was an Alpha-Delta DXCC between 2 trees at about 45'. no centre support, just LMR240 coming off of it. I tried what everyone told me for tension (5 gal pail full of rocks) at 1 end without much success. I was using paracord for rope. I ended up just tightening the crap out of it and tying off. What I experienced was the paracord has some stretch to it and it the 2 trees were moving out of sync, no problems as the stretch in the paracord keep everything tight. Of course the centre point was light weight wise.
http://www.dxradioworld.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=621
This is one great idea! By one of our members...
Might be worth looking into....
All the Best
Gary
This is one great idea! By one of our members...
Might be worth looking into....
All the Best
Gary
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