On Feb 1, 8:58*am, RHF wrote:
On Jan 31, 11:55*am, bpnjensen wrote:

Well, put up a new inverted-L antenna - 30 feet up a tree, 60 feet
across horz and over the house rooftop (nowhere else to go!), base ~20
feet from house. *Using a winradio 9:1 unun matcher at the base, *not
yet grounded*. *In fact, so far none of the RF chain on this antenna
is grounded. *So far, so good - noise level *fairly* low (lower on
almots all freqs than my DX-Ultra), AND signal strength on most bands
roughly the same, varying depending on the band. *One good thing I do
notice is that on strong MW stations, he antenna does *NOT* reveal a
60 Hz background hum like the DX-Ultra does - I consider this a good
sign. *The far end is about 25 feet from the higher-tension power
lines out back, and the near end is about 15 feet from the low-tension
lines in front. *Next steps -

- 1 - Ground the 9:1 unun

- 2 - Bury the coax from house to base of antenna
- (about 18 feet underground)

You can use 1/2" Polyethylene Tubing to Buryhttp://www.dripdepot.com/1045
your Coax in if you don't want to use PVC Pipe.
*.
Seal the Tubing ends with one of these.http://www.touch-n-foam.com/products.php
*.
- 3 - Install RF isolator (Either Radioworks or
- Wellbrook AFI5030) at the house with or
- without a ground stake connection,

Usually you should try and get this Ground Rod
were the Coax is coming out of the Ground; and
as close as you can get it to were the Coax is
about to enter the House.
*.
- depending on what works the best.
-
- Have not had great reception so far this week,
- so no chance to really give it a workout.

Then things can only get better.

- Further reports to come.
-*Thanks, guys, for all the input so far!

Post It When You Hear Them ) ~ RHF
*.
*.

Good idea on the tubing. Since I already have the PL-259s on the
cable, I may go for 3/4" or 7/8" ID tubing (they should snug through
that size tube, IIRC). I already have the 8' ground stake in at the
edge of the foundation, so it's practically plug and play if I ground
that RF isolator. I was thinking of using CoaxSeal for the tube ends,
since I have a mess of it.

Question - does the additional Poly tube around the coax diminish the
capacity to provide (presumably useful) inductive ground for the
buried cable? If the coax is not "entubed", does the covering break
down in soil? I have RG8X for the run...PVC coating IIRC.

Bruce