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Old September 10th 04, 02:10 PM
Tom S
 
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Default AH-4 Tuner and Attic Wire, Comments Please

My current attic situation consists of a 20M dipole, a 30M and two 40M
MicroVerts, and an 80M Hamstick Dipole. Using a homebrew antenna switch, I
can switch between all these and use a tuner in the shack to make everything
look good.

I was thinking of doing the following and am looking for
opinions/sugestions/comments both good and bad.

I would remove all the stuff above and run ~100 ft of 14G insulated solid
copper house wire around the perimeter of the attic. Use the control cable
for the switch to run a Icom AH-4 auto-tuner connected to the wire. The
wire will be run in "T" figure (I'll forgo the ascii art). Basically; West
~15', North 15', East 10', North 15', East 10', South 15', East 10', South
15', and back West near the start of the run. I only have access to the
metal conduit runs on the attic for ground.

This is the setup I had, along with a homebrew balun to feed the coax) for
my SWL days and it worked pretty well. I pulled the wire down when I put
all the other stuff up there but can re-install in any configuration
available. The longest straight run I can make is ~ 35' diagonally. Woulkd
I be better off just running a straight piece rather then all the ziggin'
and zaggin'?? How about putting it up as a big "Z" (25' West, 35'
diagonally NE, then 20' East)??

Any inputs on this plan are appreciated befor I spend the $$ on the tuner.

Thanks,

Tom - AC9TS