Am thinking about using 4 wire radials rather than 1 and placing the whole contraption in an oak tree in my backyard. Will I be able to get a decent SWR despite all the branches and leaves? The tree is pretty dense.
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mobile antenna to base !
- Thread starter stathis
- Start date
Am thinking about using 4 wire radials rather than 1 and placing the whole contraption in an oak tree in my backyard. Will I be able to get a decent SWR despite all the branches and leaves? The tree is pretty dense.
Would like to, Undertaker, but am trying to save money. Plus, I've read countless posts where the 99 causes TVI and has SWR problems of its own.
Do you know what effect the tree will have on my homemade antenna if I mount it smack in the middle of it?
Found this in another thread:
As far as that goes, you could make the whole antenna out of wire and leave that mag-mount on the car. You'd need about 27 feet of wire and an insulator of some kind. Hang the thing in a tree. It'd look like an upside-down 'Y'. About 9 feet of wire straight up and the two 'legs' would be about 9 feet too. And like any antenna, you could tune it by shortening that straight up piece of wire. If you can't make one like that, at about a 1/10th the cost of an 'A99', you just ain't trying. If that home-made antenna is at least as high as that mobile antenna would be, it'll out perform it.
- 'Doc
So how 'bout it, Crotchey Old Guy? What effect will the branches and leaves have? As I stated earlier, my tree is pretty dense.
Thanks.
As far as that goes, you could make the whole antenna out of wire and leave that mag-mount on the car. You'd need about 27 feet of wire and an insulator of some kind. Hang the thing in a tree. It'd look like an upside-down 'Y'. About 9 feet of wire straight up and the two 'legs' would be about 9 feet too. And like any antenna, you could tune it by shortening that straight up piece of wire. If you can't make one like that, at about a 1/10th the cost of an 'A99', you just ain't trying. If that home-made antenna is at least as high as that mobile antenna would be, it'll out perform it.
- 'Doc
So how 'bout it, Crotchey Old Guy? What effect will the branches and leaves have? As I stated earlier, my tree is pretty dense.
Thanks.
One forum member the other day said that HF waves are less affected by tree foliage than shorter wavelengths.
Understanding Antennas For the Non-technical Ham by N4JA - An online Book!
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a118343.pdf
Understanding Antennas For the Non-technical Ham by N4JA - An online Book!
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a118343.pdf
Thanks, Yeshua.
I remember reading that. In my case there are several branches of varying thickness up to 6" I'm concerned about. I haven't been able to find anything about thick branches. Only foliage. In some places my wire radials will actually be in contact with these branches.
I have an old a99 at 36ft to the tip and have zero TVI or RFI issues. Not In my house or any of the neighbors and that is with the amp on as well. Proper grounding I believe helped me. 4 ground rods, 2 10ft ones and 2 8ft ones with different lengths of #2awg solid to the mast pipe in different locations. That and the use of good coax and a clean radio and amp. No complaints here!
My problem is I have a 15' mast that would put the bottom of the 99 only a few feet above my roof and metal rain gutter. And the houses in this subdivision are spaced only 10' apart. If I lived somewhere I could put it 36', I'd have no worries about getting one. At least by using the tree, I can get an antenna away from the roof and gutter. But still don't know about the branches' effect.
Anyone?
I would say the branches would have little effect on your antenna and swr. Go for it.
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71, here are some possible bad notes for the music to your ears.
A tree will get you some height, but whipping around in bad weather can also add to the destruction of your antenna.
Plus antennas in trees may be more prone to lightning strikes.
I've lost 3 very tall pine trees with antennas mounted well above the tree foliage. I lost one due to lightning, and 2 trees died within a year of mounting. Both trees showed signs of disease and infestation of Beatles...which are noted to be aggravated by stress.
I don't recommend mounting antennas on your home or in your trees.
A tree will get you some height, but whipping around in bad weather can also add to the destruction of your antenna.
Plus antennas in trees may be more prone to lightning strikes.
I've lost 3 very tall pine trees with antennas mounted well above the tree foliage. I lost one due to lightning, and 2 trees died within a year of mounting. Both trees showed signs of disease and infestation of Beatles...which are noted to be aggravated by stress.
I don't recommend mounting antennas on your home or in your trees.
Yikes!
That's bad news indeed, Marconi. We have a LOT of thunderstorms here in Tornado Alley (when we're not in a drought) and a LOT of lightning.
May have to go back to trying to hang a horizontal dipole from my mast to my tree. Will it be as suseptible to strikes? And at 15' (less than a 1/4 wave high, will it still be worth a flip?
(As you guys already know by now from all my previous posts, I change my mind quickly and often.) :blush:
That's bad news indeed, Marconi. We have a LOT of thunderstorms here in Tornado Alley (when we're not in a drought) and a LOT of lightning.
May have to go back to trying to hang a horizontal dipole from my mast to my tree. Will it be as suseptible to strikes? And at 15' (less than a 1/4 wave high, will it still be worth a flip?
(As you guys already know by now from all my previous posts, I change my mind quickly and often.) :blush:
Around where I live lots of guys install base antennas in the tops of trees. One guy even has a Maco V58 in the top of a pine tree. They all had some local CB'er with tree climbing equipment put their antennas up for them. You should make sure that you have good grounding just in case of a lightning strike.