Simple, cheap antenna for portable use.
 

Hi All..
I'm wishing to operate portable from a mountain top location
which has excellent 360 degree unobstructed views, and would be ideal for
the odd weekend of amateur radio operation when I get the chance. Problem
is, there are no trees at that location to use as mounting points for wire
antennas. I'm considering building a vertical antenna using aluminium tubing
that I could telescope together to a height of approx 16 to 17 feet. This
would allow me to tune the antenna to any band between 14MHz and 29MHz by
adjusting the length, and use my cars body as a ground plane. Problem is, I
have no idea how to afix a 16 foot vertical antenna to the top of my little
four cylinder car!
Can anyone suggest a simple way to do this with a minimum cash outlay?
I'd also be interested to hear of other suitable antenna ideas.
I'm very keen to get back on the bands after an absence of several years,
and operation from home is out of the question.

73 de Graeme.....

You can buy a 20 foot flag pole and a tire mount at URL:
http://www.unflags.com/tatimo.html

Or fabricate a tire mount for your homebrew antenna

Works well


--
RF Gotta Go SomeWhere



"Graeme" wrote in message
...
Hi All..
I'm wishing to operate portable from a mountain top location
which has excellent 360 degree unobstructed views, and would be ideal for
the odd weekend of amateur radio operation when I get the chance. Problem
is, there are no trees at that location to use as mounting points for wire
antennas. I'm considering building a vertical antenna using aluminium
tubing
that I could telescope together to a height of approx 16 to 17 feet. This
would allow me to tune the antenna to any band between 14MHz and 29MHz by
adjusting the length, and use my cars body as a ground plane. Problem is,
I
have no idea how to afix a 16 foot vertical antenna to the top of my
little
four cylinder car!
Can anyone suggest a simple way to do this with a minimum cash outlay?
I'd also be interested to hear of other suitable antenna ideas.
I'm very keen to get back on the bands after an absence of several years,
and operation from home is out of the question.

73 de Graeme.....

"Graeme" wrote in message
...
Hi All..
I'm wishing to operate portable from a mountain top location
which has excellent 360 degree unobstructed views, and would be ideal for
the odd weekend of amateur radio operation when I get the chance. Problem
is, there are no trees at that location to use as mounting points for wire
antennas. I'm considering building a vertical antenna using aluminium
tubing
that I could telescope together to a height of approx 16 to 17 feet. This
would allow me to tune the antenna to any band between 14MHz and 29MHz by
adjusting the length, and use my cars body as a ground plane. Problem is,
I
have no idea how to afix a 16 foot vertical antenna to the top of my
little
four cylinder car!
Can anyone suggest a simple way to do this with a minimum cash outlay?
I'd also be interested to hear of other suitable antenna ideas.
I'm very keen to get back on the bands after an absence of several years,
and operation from home is out of the question.

get a cb antenna (102" whip) then make it longer by putting another whip at
the end of it (use a small pipe with a couple of set-screws as a
coupling.) - take a warm coat - its probably cold at the mountaintop this
time of year.




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.807 / Virus Database: 549 - Release Date: 12/7/2004

Now that's inovative thinking! Thanks Hal. I'll give your suggestion a
closer look.
But I'll swap the warm coat for bottle of sunscreen and a pair of
sunglasses..
It's summer here in Sydney Australia!!
Cheers..

Hal Rosser wrote in message
...

"Graeme" wrote in message
...
Hi All..
I'm wishing to operate portable from a mountain top location
which has excellent 360 degree unobstructed views, and would be ideal
for
the odd weekend of amateur radio operation when I get the chance.
Problem
is, there are no trees at that location to use as mounting points for
wire
antennas. I'm considering building a vertical antenna using aluminium
tubing
that I could telescope together to a height of approx 16 to 17 feet.
This
would allow me to tune the antenna to any band between 14MHz and 29MHz
by
adjusting the length, and use my cars body as a ground plane. Problem
is,
I
have no idea how to afix a 16 foot vertical antenna to the top of my
little
four cylinder car!
Can anyone suggest a simple way to do this with a minimum cash outlay?
I'd also be interested to hear of other suitable antenna ideas.
I'm very keen to get back on the bands after an absence of several
years,
and operation from home is out of the question.

get a cb antenna (102" whip) then make it longer by putting another whip
at
the end of it (use a small pipe with a couple of set-screws as a
coupling.) - take a warm coat - its probably cold at the mountaintop this
time of year.




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.807 / Virus Database: 549 - Release Date: 12/7/2004

Take a good look at the end of one of those whips. Very thin. Won't hold
much of an extension.
"Graeme" wrote in message
...
Now that's inovative thinking! Thanks Hal. I'll give your suggestion a
closer look.
But I'll swap the warm coat for bottle of sunscreen and a pair of
sunglasses..
It's summer here in Sydney Australia!!
Cheers..

On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 06:50:39 +1100, "Graeme"
wrote:

Hi All..
I'm wishing to operate portable from a mountain top location
which has excellent 360 degree unobstructed views, and would be ideal for
the odd weekend of amateur radio operation when I get the chance. Problem
is, there are no trees at that location to use as mounting points for wire
antennas. I'm considering building a vertical antenna using aluminium tubing
that I could telescope together to a height of approx 16 to 17 feet. This
would allow me to tune the antenna to any band between 14MHz and 29MHz by
adjusting the length, and use my cars body as a ground plane. Problem is, I
have no idea how to afix a 16 foot vertical antenna to the top of my little
four cylinder car!
Can anyone suggest a simple way to do this with a minimum cash outlay?
I'd also be interested to hear of other suitable antenna ideas.
I'm very keen to get back on the bands after an absence of several years,
and operation from home is out of the question.

73 de Graeme.....


Don't know if you guys in Australia get QST magazine on a regular
basis, but the December issue has plans for a portable vertical that
does 20 through 6 meters, the "FARApole".

See http://www2.arrl.org/qst/

Bob
k5qwg

On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 06:50:39 +1100, Graeme wrote:

Hi All..
I'm wishing to operate portable from a mountain top location
which has excellent 360 degree unobstructed views, and would be ideal for
the odd weekend of amateur radio operation when I get the chance. Problem
is, there are no trees at that location to use as mounting points for wire
antennas. I'm considering building a vertical antenna using aluminium tubing
that I could telescope together to a height of approx 16 to 17 feet. This
would allow me to tune the antenna to any band between 14MHz and 29MHz by
adjusting the length, and use my cars body as a ground plane. Problem is, I
have no idea how to afix a 16 foot vertical antenna to the top of my little
four cylinder car!
Can anyone suggest a simple way to do this with a minimum cash outlay?
I'd also be interested to hear of other suitable antenna ideas.
I'm very keen to get back on the bands after an absence of several years,
and operation from home is out of the question.

73 de Graeme.....


A couple of ideas....

Mount one of those 'ski bar' roof racks on your car and clamp the antenna
mounting onto that.

If your car has a tow bar fitted, you can use this as a great mounting
point for a short tower made from telescoping metal tube, and string a
long wire or sloper dipole from that (in the form of an inverted V). Use a
tent pole with 2 guy ropes at the outer ends of the antenna. All these
bits should fit easily into the boot of the car.



Have fun, and be careful of those thunderstorms when your on top of the
hill!

Pip

Look here there are some portable vertical antennas

http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Antenn...al/index.shtml

or search for portable too :)
http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/se...query=portable

73

Ms_Squiggles wrote:
On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 06:50:39 +1100, Graeme wrote:


Hi All..
I'm wishing to operate portable from a mountain top location
which has excellent 360 degree unobstructed views, and would be ideal for
the odd weekend of amateur radio operation when I get the chance. Problem
is, there are no trees at that location to use as mounting points for wire
antennas. I'm considering building a vertical antenna using aluminium tubing
that I could telescope together to a height of approx 16 to 17 feet. This
would allow me to tune the antenna to any band between 14MHz and 29MHz by
adjusting the length, and use my cars body as a ground plane. Problem is, I
have no idea how to afix a 16 foot vertical antenna to the top of my little
four cylinder car!
Can anyone suggest a simple way to do this with a minimum cash outlay?
I'd also be interested to hear of other suitable antenna ideas.
I'm very keen to get back on the bands after an absence of several years,
and operation from home is out of the question.

73 de Graeme.....



A couple of ideas....

Mount one of those 'ski bar' roof racks on your car and clamp the antenna
mounting onto that.

If your car has a tow bar fitted, you can use this as a great mounting
point for a short tower made from telescoping metal tube, and string a
long wire or sloper dipole from that (in the form of an inverted V). Use a
tent pole with 2 guy ropes at the outer ends of the antenna. All these
bits should fit easily into the boot of the car.



Have fun, and be careful of those thunderstorms when your on top of the
hill!

Pip
Fishing carp poles..... very cheap very lite...long wire verticl !!!

For portable operation in the 14-30 MHz range, I use a small, handheld
transmitting loop. Here is a web page describing it and how to build
one from inexpensive materials. The page also links to other pages
with good information on loops.

http://dt.prohosting.com/hacks/antenna/magloop.html

I chose the loop because it is actually possible to operate while
walking around. Obviously if you are able to erect a larger antenna
at your operating site, you would be able to get better performance.
My loop is about 30% efficient at 14 MHz, theoretically delivering
about one S-unit less than a half wave dipole.

David
http://www.qrz.com/n5izu