On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 08:29:47 -0500, The Axelrods
wrote:




Thanks in advance for any info


You can use a discone for 30 Mhz and up for sure. the performance below
that falls off very quick. I use my discone with an ICOM R7000.

As for grounding yes you have to ground the anttena. It is for safety as
the lightening may want to flow down your coax lead in no matter what is
struck by the lightening. Lightening goes everywhere when it hits and
into the house via the coax is a good possibliity.

My discone sits on top of 2-10 foot mast sections. The coax is fed to a
gound rod via an anti satic device, then on to the radio. the mast is
bolted to my dack so is easy to take down

Can you expound a little on this.. "anti static" device? Not quite
sure I know what this one is.


You could use the 20 mast as an antenna. run coax to the mast and secure
it to the bottom. You now have a 20 foot vertical antenna that will be
fine on SW.

Run this one to a ground rod also, as the above?

There is more info about grounding and antennas at the AMANDX site below

Maybe should have gone there before I post this.. Thanks! Gene

You might wan to consider the AOR SA7000 antenna.



http://tinyurl.com/x6to



It's pretty expensive, but it does cover shortwave frequencies as well as
VHF/UHF. It also has the added benefit of being pretty discrete.



"Gene" wrote in message
...

Getting ready to purchase a ICOM 8500, and as I live in a community
where a long wire would be out of the question, I have been told that
a discone will work quite well for my monitoring activities, and will
be rather hard for the grumpy neighbors to see, as compared to a beam,
etc. etc.... . Any comments on this? How high should I install it.
Probably cant go over 15 or 20 feet at the most. I intend to use some
type of telescoping mast, so when one of our Florida hurricanes comes,
I can "bring er down"! Since the antenna will be coupled to the mast,
will I still need to ground it? (I know thats probably a really stupid
question, but it seems as if the metal mast would take a lightning
strike (God forbid!) to the ground, rather than into the house..(??)
A neighbor of mine has a little discone up around 15 ft., and uses it
to transmit on the 6 meter (or is it 20 meter) bank. Works quite well,
he says. Thanks in advance for any info

On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 09:20:04 -0500, "mike0219116"
wrote:

You might wan to consider the AOR SA7000 antenna.



http://tinyurl.com/x6to



It's pretty expensive, but it does cover shortwave frequencies as well as
VHF/UHF. It also has the added benefit of being pretty discrete.




Thanks Mike.. The SA7000 looks like it might be a better alternative,
and actually less obtrusive than the discone. The SA7000 on a 20' mast
ought to be a good choice.

Your coax needs to be groounded at the (outside) house entrance by code.

"Gene" wrote in message
...
Getting ready to purchase a ICOM 8500, and as I live in a community
where a long wire would be out of the question, I have been told that
a discone will work quite well for my monitoring activities, and will
be rather hard for the grumpy neighbors to see, as compared to a beam,
etc. etc.... . Any comments on this? How high should I install it.
Probably cant go over 15 or 20 feet at the most. I intend to use some
type of telescoping mast, so when one of our Florida hurricanes comes,
I can "bring er down"! Since the antenna will be coupled to the mast,
will I still need to ground it? (I know thats probably a really stupid
question, but it seems as if the metal mast would take a lightning
strike (God forbid!) to the ground, rather than into the house..(??)
A neighbor of mine has a little discone up around 15 ft., and uses it
to transmit on the 6 meter (or is it 20 meter) bank. Works quite well,
he says. Thanks in advance for any info

CW wrote:

Your coax needs to be groounded at the (outside) house entrance by code.

Whose code?

dxAce

dxAce wrote:

CW wrote:


Your coax needs to be groounded at the (outside) house entrance by code.


Whose code?


Bureaucrats never rest.


http://cablingdb.com/Standards/570/570Main.asp

http://www.engineeringharmonics.com/papers/s_vc.htm


This site mention some rule numbers
==============================
Antenna systems add yet another dimension to the electrical code,
especially if the access point or antenna will be mounted outdoors. For
the most part, you need to be concerned with the grounding of the outer
conductor of antenna transmission line (coaxial cable) when the antenna
is placed outdoors. Pay careful attention to the proper grounding
distances, bonding, and soil conductivity.

This is to prevent and reduce the effect of surges produced by lightning
strikes. Article 810 covers 'Radio and Television Equipment' while
Article 820 covers 'CATV and Radio Distribution Systems' in the NEC.
Also note the guidelines for conductors entering a building in Article
800 part II. With the rapid expansion of both consumer and enterprise
grade wireless devices, the electrical code has some catching up to do
and more detail on WLAN may be covered in the 2005 version.

http://www.isp-planet.com/fixed_wire...2004/code.html
=====================================



mike

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..let the cat out to reply..

©Densa International
'Think tanks cleaned cheap'

NEC.

"dxAce" wrote in message
...


CW wrote:

Your coax needs to be groounded at the (outside) house entrance by code.

Whose code?

dxAce

Must not be applicable around here, I've never had a single problem when any
inspector has come around.

dxAce

CW wrote:

NEC.

"dxAce" wrote in message
...


CW wrote:

Your coax needs to be groounded at the (outside) house entrance by code.

Whose code?

dxAce

Unlikely they know the code outside of standard building practice. I do
believe that they can require more but not less than NEC.

"dxAce" wrote in message
...
Must not be applicable around here, I've never had a single problem when
any
inspector has come around.

dxAce

CW wrote:

NEC.

"dxAce" wrote in message
...


CW wrote:

Your coax needs to be groounded at the (outside) house entrance by
code.

Whose code?

dxAce