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#1
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6 meter antenna ideas.....
Needs to be either in the attic, or on a metal patio cover.
A vertical on top of a 20 foot pole "might" be possible. Currently I am using a 1/4 wave vertical mag mount on top of a metal patio cover. I also have a half wave dipole in the attic. So, any ideas for something better? Wayne W5GIE |
#2
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6 meter antenna ideas.....
On 6/27/2013 12:05 PM, Wayne wrote:
Needs to be either in the attic, or on a metal patio cover. A vertical on top of a 20 foot pole "might" be possible. Currently I am using a 1/4 wave vertical mag mount on top of a metal patio cover. I also have a half wave dipole in the attic. So, any ideas for something better? Wayne W5GIE I built a 6 meter cubical quad for the June VHF contest. Wood frame with real bamboo spreaders. Rotate with a TV antenna rotator. Worked great till the rains started. Wires are resting directly on the bamboo. SWR when wet is 4.9:1. Dry way 1.1:1. Weather getting hot and dry again, so hope it returns to what it was. Also fabricating parts for a 6 meter Moxon antenna. Either antenna can be vertically or horizontally polarized. I prefer horizontal for SSB. Paul, KD7HB |
#3
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6 meter antenna ideas.....
"Paul Drahn" wrote in message ... On 6/27/2013 12:05 PM, Wayne wrote: Needs to be either in the attic, or on a metal patio cover. A vertical on top of a 20 foot pole "might" be possible. Currently I am using a 1/4 wave vertical mag mount on top of a metal patio cover. I also have a half wave dipole in the attic. So, any ideas for something better? Wayne W5GIE # I built a 6 meter cubical quad for the June VHF contest. Wood frame with # real bamboo spreaders. Rotate with a TV antenna rotator. Worked great # till the rains started. Wires are resting directly on the bamboo. SWR # when wet is 4.9:1. Dry way 1.1:1. Weather getting hot and dry again, so # hope it returns to what it was. # Also fabricating parts for a 6 meter Moxon antenna. # Either antenna can be vertically or horizontally polarized. I prefer # horizontal for SSB. # Paul, KD7HB Hadn't thought about the Moxon. I hesitate to mention this, but some years ago a group regular was touting a 10 meter cubical quad using fractal elements. A 6 meter version might almost fit in the attic. You may have surmised by now that my possibilities for a decent antenna are severely limited. |
#4
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6 meter antenna ideas.....
On 6/27/2013 12:43 PM, Wayne wrote:
"Paul Drahn" wrote in message ... On 6/27/2013 12:05 PM, Wayne wrote: Needs to be either in the attic, or on a metal patio cover. A vertical on top of a 20 foot pole "might" be possible. Currently I am using a 1/4 wave vertical mag mount on top of a metal patio cover. I also have a half wave dipole in the attic. So, any ideas for something better? Wayne W5GIE # I built a 6 meter cubical quad for the June VHF contest. Wood frame with # real bamboo spreaders. Rotate with a TV antenna rotator. Worked great # till the rains started. Wires are resting directly on the bamboo. SWR # when wet is 4.9:1. Dry way 1.1:1. Weather getting hot and dry again, so # hope it returns to what it was. # Also fabricating parts for a 6 meter Moxon antenna. # Either antenna can be vertically or horizontally polarized. I prefer # horizontal for SSB. # Paul, KD7HB Hadn't thought about the Moxon. I hesitate to mention this, but some years ago a group regular was touting a 10 meter cubical quad using fractal elements. A 6 meter version might almost fit in the attic. You may have surmised by now that my possibilities for a decent antenna are severely limited. Yeah, I kind of figured that. I was using a 160 meter horizontal loop for 6 meters before the quad. Google for "KG4JJH 6 moxon" and you will find a lot of references, including a PDF of an April 2004 QST article. KD7HB |
#5
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6 meter antenna ideas.....
On Thu, 27 Jun 2013 13:04:02 -0700, Paul Drahn wrote:
Google for "KG4JJH 6 moxon" and you will find a lot of references, including a PDF of an April 2004 QST article. KD7HB Thanks Paul for the suggestion. KG4JJH has some nice projects in his site. It's very well laid out too. I love to look through sites like his that have interesting ham radio related projects. 73, Bob KB2ZGN |
#6
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6 meter antenna ideas.....
Wayne wrote:
Needs to be either in the attic, or on a metal patio cover. A vertical on top of a 20 foot pole "might" be possible. Currently I am using a 1/4 wave vertical mag mount on top of a metal patio cover. I also have a half wave dipole in the attic. So, any ideas for something better? Wayne W5GIE It depends on what you mean by "better". A bowtie should fit in the attic, will have roughly the same gain as a dipole, but will have a better SWR across the band. A diamond loop would be about 6 feet tall, a square loop would be about 5 feet tall, and a hex loop a bit over 6 feet tall and all would have a bit more gain than a dipole. My attic isn't that tall but yours may be. A HEN at 6M would have even more gain, but at about 10 feet tall would likely have to go over the patio cover. The vertical pattern would depend on how high above the patio cover you can mount it. EZNEC can easily model that. And of course there is always a 5/8 vertical directly on top of the patio cover, which serves as the ground plane. -- Jim Pennino |
#7
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6 meter antenna ideas.....
What do you want to do with it? If it is just for local nets and such
the vertical magmount should do the trick. For things like Dx you will, of course,. want something more. Irv VE6BP "Wayne" wrote in message ... Needs to be either in the attic, or on a metal patio cover. A vertical on top of a 20 foot pole "might" be possible. Currently I am using a 1/4 wave vertical mag mount on top of a metal patio cover. I also have a half wave dipole in the attic. So, any ideas for something better? Wayne W5GIE |
#8
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6 meter antenna ideas.....
"Irv Finkleman" wrote in message ... # What do you want to do with it? If it is just for local nets and such #the vertical magmount should do the trick. For things like Dx you # will, of course,. want something more. # Irv VE6BP I don't know of any local nets, and the only stations I've worked are local hams on a very occasional basis. So the goal is an occasional non-local contact. During the recent 6 meter test, I heard just a few weak stations, and got to switch between the two antennas. The attic dipole was slightly better. And, after digging for stations in the mud for about 30 minutes, I gave up on the contest. I've only been able to receive one beacon (about 60 miles away), but it went off the air in a forest fire a while back. |
#9
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6 meter antenna ideas.....
"Wayne" wrote in message ... Needs to be either in the attic, or on a metal patio cover. A vertical on top of a 20 foot pole "might" be possible. Currently I am using a 1/4 wave vertical mag mount on top of a metal patio cover. I also have a half wave dipole in the attic. So, any ideas for something better? Wayne W5GIE What do you plan on doing with it ? Working repeaters, working locals on ssb, doing dx work ? Doing it all ? |
#10
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6 meter antenna ideas.....
On Thu, 27 Jun 2013 12:05:51 -0700, "Wayne"
wrote: Needs to be either in the attic, or on a metal patio cover. A vertical on top of a 20 foot pole "might" be possible. Currently I am using a 1/4 wave vertical mag mount on top of a metal patio cover. I also have a half wave dipole in the attic. Are you doing CW and SSB at the bottom of the 6 meter band? Or are you doing FM and repeaters in the middle of the band? Or perhaps you are doing radio control at the top of the band? Antennas for these purposes are quite different. For example, CW and SSB is usually done with horizontal polarization, while FM and radio control are done with vertical. I'll guess(tm) FM and vertical. The most successful 6M FM antenna I've built was a simple center fed vertical 1/2 wave dipole, with a balun at the feed point. Two egg insulators at the ends. Cantilever supports projecting from a tower, side of building, or tree to give some clearance. Coax run perpendicular to the antenna wire. Distance from tower has a big effect on the pattern, so I made the attachment point adjustable. At about 9 ft in length, your attic might not be tall enough for a 1/2 wave dipole. You can bend the corners over and still have a usable antenna. Loading coils will also shorten the antenna, but if you go that route, do it symmetrically, with identical loading coils on both wires of the dipole. If not, run it down the roof line at an angle. The nice thing about this antenna is that it's very easy to build, and then rebuild after you discover your calculations are not quite accurate. Have a grid dip meter or antennal analyzer handy. If you have the room in your attic, and you're always working repeaters in one particular direction, you can build a "wire" yagi in the same manner as the dipole. The driven element will look much like the dipole, but the others are roughly 1/2 wave yagi elements. I've build monsterious 2 meter rope yagis for transmitter hunts, but haven't tried it on 6m. If you do have a 20ft pole, and are concerned with aesthetics, try a coaxial antenna. Basically, a 4.5ft large diameter 1/4 wave pipe over the top of the 20ft pole for the counterpoise sleeve, and a stainless 4.5ft whip antenna on top. Use 75 ohm RG-6a/u coax to feed it, since it's a 75 ohm antenna. The mismatch to your radio will be minimal. http://www.belden.com/blog/broadcastav/50-Ohms-The-Forgotten-Impedance.cfm http://www.solred.com.ar/lu6etj/tecnicos/En_75.htm If a coax antenna is too much, try a 5/8 wave: http://www.hamuniverse.com/6metervertical.html -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
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