Rockinghorse Winner wrote:

Up until now I have avoided considering wire antennas fed with ladder line
like a full wave loop or Zepp, because I have metal rain gutters and
windowframes, which the line would inevitably have to contend with. Is this
a big issue? What kind of an effect do metal objects have on ladder line,
and is this prohibitive to putting one up? Should I stick with coax?

Thank you.


My installation is as follows: 1) 600 ohm open wire line [tuned of
course!] from the antenna to a protected [from WX] area under the sun
porch. There I simply connected 450 ohm ladder line to the 600 ohm line
for the run into the house. [450 ohm line has increased losses in bad
WX]. As mentioned in another response, I run the 450 ohm line at right
angles over metal structures. I keep the line a least 6 inches from
pipes, heating vents etc and twist the line one twist every three [+/-]
feet.

I run 1 KW 80 through 20 meters with NO interference or RFI in the
shack. This computer is located 3 feet from the amplifier and has no
adverse effects from the amplifier. BTW, my station is grounded
[earthed] IAW electrical code.