Pretty much like my basement hung dipole one time. It was actually in my basement, hung from the ceiling joists and was maybe a foot above ground level in a cement basement. It did actually work DX. That was back in my young and foolish days. LOL
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Home Homebrew 1/4 Wave 10 Meter Ground Plane
- Thread starter Riverman
- Start date
Pretty much like my basement hung dipole one time. It was actually in my basement, hung from the ceiling joists and was maybe a foot above ground level in a cement basement. It did actually work DX. That was back in my young and foolish days. LOL
I can see the look on my wife’s face if she comes home and finds one of those, Jeff.
I can relate to that statement.
Hey, it's what works right?
There is a thread here somewhere that has a bunch of homebrew projects in it.
73
Jeff
Wouldn't want to throw any gas on a fire, but my opinion of single radial 1/4 wave GP is that it is a simple vertical dipole, is not a 1/4 GP, but a 1/2 wave, and should work as well as any good dipole.
I have a slightly longer top section that I interchange with the existing one. It brings the total length to 103". I then lengthen the wire radial a little and voila'; it becomes an 11 meter antenna! Readings at 27.205 (Ch 20) are almost identical to those posted earlier at 28.400.
What I should do is shorten that top piece so the total length is 101" and then adjust the radial so the resonant point splits the difference between those of the two antennas. Judging from the analyzer, the SWR on the ends (26.965 and 28.500) should then be about 1.4. Perfectly acceptable for a dual band antenna.
What I should do is shorten that top piece so the total length is 101" and then adjust the radial so the resonant point splits the difference between those of the two antennas. Judging from the analyzer, the SWR on the ends (26.965 and 28.500) should then be about 1.4. Perfectly acceptable for a dual band antenna.
Made the decision to convert the antenna solely to 11 meters and dig my magnetic loop out of the closet for 10-40. I haven't conversed with the local CB'ers here in over a year. When our dog Scoot died, I lost interest in radio and such for a long while. After bouncing around between hobbies, I eventually settled back into Ham radio.
Not sure what's going on here. With this antenna, the local CB'ers are all hearing me better than ever, including when I was using an Antron-99 @ 15'. AND, I am receiving all of them better. We all gained 1-2 S units.
What makes this really interesting is I previously was using a Uniden 980 and RM KL203 and a now am only using a President Richard @11 watts. We are all scratching our heads.
Radio is definitely a box of chocolates.
Not sure what's going on here. With this antenna, the local CB'ers are all hearing me better than ever, including when I was using an Antron-99 @ 15'. AND, I am receiving all of them better. We all gained 1-2 S units.
What makes this really interesting is I previously was using a Uniden 980 and RM KL203 and a now am only using a President Richard @11 watts.
We are all scratching our heads.Radio is definitely a box of chocolates.
Not sure what's going on here. With this antenna, the local CB'ers are all hearing me better than ever, including when I was using an Antron-99 @ 15'. AND, I am receiving all of them better. We all gained 1-2 S units.
What makes this really interesting is I previously was using a Uniden 980 and RM KL203 and a now am only using a President Richard @11 watts.
Sounds like you're doing a little myth-busting and demonstrating how vital a good antenna can be over the always-more-watts theory. Fun ain't it.
73 sir
Notice: No increase in performance was gained by the following, nor was any expected.
After converting the antenna to 11 meter use, I was able to obtain an SWR of 1.1:1 on Channel 20, resulting in 99.8% effective power. Darn near perfect. End of story. Well . . . .
Being someone with time on his hands and a penchant for fiddling and experimenting, I took a closer look and discovered my vertical element was only 102" in length rather than the 103" recommended my antenna calculator (when using a target frequency of 27.205 MHz). With the use of a very small hose clamp and a piece of copper wire, I added one inch of length to the vertical. I then adjusted the radial length a tad and BANG! An SWR of 1.0:1 with 0.00 reflected power.
To reiterate, there was never going to be any improvement in transmit/receive capabilities by lowering the existing SWR. But the 30-minute undertaking was fun and enlightening. Which is what this hobby is all about.
After converting the antenna to 11 meter use, I was able to obtain an SWR of 1.1:1 on Channel 20, resulting in 99.8% effective power. Darn near perfect. End of story. Well . . . .
Being someone with time on his hands and a penchant for fiddling and experimenting, I took a closer look and discovered my vertical element was only 102" in length rather than the 103" recommended my antenna calculator (when using a target frequency of 27.205 MHz). With the use of a very small hose clamp and a piece of copper wire, I added one inch of length to the vertical. I then adjusted the radial length a tad and BANG! An SWR of 1.0:1 with 0.00 reflected power.
To reiterate, there was never going to be any improvement in transmit/receive capabilities by lowering the existing SWR. But the 30-minute undertaking was fun and enlightening. Which is what this hobby is all about.
Hello Riverman, Are you currently using your MLA? If so what type of capacitor are you using? Thank you MarcMade the decision to convert the antenna solely to 11 meters and dig my magnetic loop out of the closet for 10-40. I haven't conversed with the local CB'ers here in over a year. When our dog Scoot died, I lost interest in radio and such for a long while. After bouncing around between hobbies, I eventually settled back into Ham radio.
Not sure what's going on here. With this antenna, the local CB'ers are all hearing me better than ever, including when I was using an Antron-99 @ 15'. AND, I am receiving all of them better. We all gained 1-2 S units.
What makes this really interesting is I previously was using a Uniden 980 and RM KL203 and a now am only using a President Richard @11 watts.
Radio is definitely a box of chocolates.
Bud, I know how you felt on loosing Scoot...when I lost my Pitt Bull Rojo.
Few years back I built a 1/4 wl GP and it worked great, as you have noticed improved rx and tx. direct feed no loss in matching network.
I run my coax inside the mast pipe, think starduster type antenna install.
this shields coax from rf and I have not noticed any CMC , have friends running this GP using 3cx3000 tubes, they say no CMC or RFI observed at all.
Have quite a few of these installed around the north Florida area.
I run my coax inside the mast pipe, think starduster type antenna install.
this shields coax from rf and I have not noticed any CMC , have friends running this GP using 3cx3000 tubes, they say no CMC or RFI observed at all.
Have quite a few of these installed around the north Florida area.
- No one is chatting at the moment.