- Jan 31, 2009
- 3,289
A nice crank-up tower would go very nicely on that property.I'm looking for antenna ideas. I currently run "portable" even at home. Current set-up (when set up):
Yaesu Ft-891 (100 Watts)
Wolf River Coils "Sporty 40" coil and 213" telescopic whip
50' Messi&Paoloni POTA-Flex-7 (LMR-240 before the POTA-Flex was released)
Wanting to avoid:
tuner
amplifier
Displeased wife
Physical antenna adjustments when switching bands
Other problems:
Wife worse than an HOA with regard to aesthetics.
Tree to the left of the house is a weeping willow and my wife's favorite. Nothing goes in or on that tree.
Lay of the land (photo below):
- White/gray rectangle on left side of house is a foundation to an addition (now fully constructed).
- Yellow hand drawn box is covered deck extending original deck
- Red circle is the approximate location for the antenna I currently deploy
- Red X is the shack location (ground floor).
I run the cable out the window using a cut-up pool noodle to cushion the cable from the closed window (slit for the cable itself) and as insulation on the top of the partially open window. Unrelated to the "problem" I used to use 16 to 24 radials (depending on lazy factor). My son's friends aren't the brightest sometimes, and they would ride dirt bikes across the radials, so I set little soccer cones at the end of each one. Let me tell you how my wife's panties drop when I set that antenna out in the front yard for all the envious neighbors to see. Now I use the "magic carpet" - 36" x 84" aluminum window screen (photo for your enjoyment below).
Bands desired:
40, 20, 15, 10, 6.
Goal:
More-permanent deployment that can be in year-round weather and doesn't need adjustment when swapping bands. I'd like the shack to stay where it is (my office) but may try to relocate somewhere else. Problem is my father-in-law lives in the basement and my parents live in the addition, so they are off-limits.
I'm considering a DX Commander...if I can convince the wife.
EFHW?? Problem is where to physically deploy it
This "HOA Buster" that uses gutters and down spouts (no shortage of those out front, but I lose 6m and probably very compromised but plus is it would have the shortest coax run)
Simple speaker wire dipoles seem to be for one band each
What else??
Feedline loss is a concern, so feedline type also needs to be determined and I'm not 100% against an amplifier...just more money I don't have.
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