View Single Post
  #23   Report Post  
Old May 24th 08, 12:09 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.antenna
Highland Ham Highland Ham is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 250
Default antenna construction


===================================
A not 'too' visible antenna ,which might not be recognised as an antenna
is a loop around the house (provided you live in a detached house).
At gutter level at the corners you could fit say 1 foot long 1 inch
plastic pipe pointing sidewards or under a suitable angle.
Each pipe end has a saw cut to accept the antenna wire which can be sealed
with epoxy glue or a piece of tape.
Use a twin wire feeder and a suitable matching unit (tuner ,if you prefer
that word). The loop should work well for all wave lengths equal or
smaller the the loop circumference .

While on a 2 months' visit to the LA area (Torrance) I managed to put up
such a loop ,extended to the end of the garden making it a full wave
length for 75 metres. In spite of being only 10 ft off the ground
(probably making it a NVIS antenna) I comfortably worked the Sacramento
area.
Such a loop is definetely worth a try.

Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH


Hi Frank,

No - I have metal siding on the sides of the house and I tried to load up
the siding and the rain gutters, but alas - they are grounded!

I am stuck with something in the air.

=====================================
In my situation as described above , I also had to deal with (earthed?)
metal gutters , but thanks to the 1 inch diam. plastic pipes at the
corners of the house ,keeping the antenna away from the gutter ,the
loop worked quite well (as an NVIS antenna).

Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH