On Mar 26, 1:20?pm, "Jeff" wrote:
On Mar 26, 9:12 am, "Dloyd Lavies" wrote:





On Mar 26, 12:07?pm, "Jeff" wrote:

On Mar 26, 7:31 am, "Dloyd Lavies" wrote:

On Mar 25, 10:36?pm, "Jeff" wrote:

I just bought an IC718 over the weekend, along with power supply, and
antenna tuner. ?Now the only thing I have left to decide is what to
use
for an antenna. ?Basically, I plan to use the rig for DX'ing,
ragchews, maybe (maybe**) learning CW, mostly going to do SSB/voice.
May at some point try out/experiment with some data modes (the rig
will be near my computers afterall). ?So the question is, what is a
good
choice/source (hopefully high quality/relatively inexpensive) for
antennas.

Thanks,
?-Jeff

Jeff,

A little more information would be helpful. ?How much area do you have
available for antennas? ?Any available tall trees or structures that
would be useful as supports and how tall are they?. ?What is the
direction orietation for the area, such as facing north/south or east/
west. ?Any power lines close by or other problems that may cause
safety concerns?

Dloyd

No power lines....I'm planning to put it in my backyard (well, the
backyard of the house
we're renting). ?No really tall trees, unfortunately...the tallest is
maybe 20ft. ?We have
a garage with an attached office (a room approx 15' x 10', single
story with all of
my computer stuff in it, connected to ethernet, satellite TV, AC, and
phone lines)...
Orientation is mostly open to northern sky. ?No other real supports in
backyard
(mostly dead grass and a couple small fruit trees)..but there is
probably plenty
of room for antennas...also we have a trellace (sp?) over the garage
with some
kind of vine-line flowering plant growing (not sure if that's useful,
but I used it to
hide some of the ethernet/satellite TV coax runs).

Thanx,
?-Jeff- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Does the installation need to be stealthy and is there any issues with
installing semi temporary supports, such as a poles or a mast.

This probably wouldn't be a problem....I doubt my neighbors would care
and it's
an old enough development that there might not be strict CCR's
(hopefully anyhow).
I probably can't build anything too high though maybe 20ft or so..- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Based on what you have said with the height restrictions, lack of
antenna supports, and if your budget will allow, I recommend one of
the loaded vertical antenna from Hy-Gain or Cushcraft, like the R8 or
DX-88, mounted on a short mast (15' - 20') feet off the ground. The
overall antenna height will exceed you specification but usually
verticals are not that problematic to install and aren't that
noticable. Furthermore, as a second/alternate antenna, I would
install the longest loop antenna I could get up. If you can put up
four vertical supports 20 feet long in your backyard, use 2x4 wood
construction, and then run the wire around the circumference of the
yard, I've done this using #14 copperweld (sold by the wireman out of
South Carolina) you can feed this antenna with ladder line, or coax
with a balun, through your tuner.

Better yet, if you have an auto wire tuner like the ones made by SGC,
feed it with coax and mount it right at the antenna feed point, works
real well in this application.

Nevertheless, check around on the net for the exact diminsions of the
largest wire loop antenna, which is resonant on an amateur band, that
will fit on your lot.

Although recommended by another poster, I would not use the G5RV at
this height because at the height restriction you mentioned, the
radiated energy would just go straight up.

Dloyd