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Finally have an antenna

From KA9SRK

12/1/2007 3:09:56 PM (4 comments) Add a commentAdd Comment

About a month and a half ago, I decided I needed to get some sort of antenna up before the snow started blowing.



Earlier this week I decided it was now or never, so Saturday would be the day. Lo and behold, on the next day, the first snow and ice storm of the year was forecasted for Saturday. No matter - it isn't supposed to hit until late in the afternoon.



Since I have no trees in the back yard, I devised a plan for an inverted L. Come out the window well, straight up to the peak of the house, and back diagonally to the shed. I anchored a small pulley to the flood light at the peak of the house. I ran some large twine through the pulley and tied it to one end of a ceramic insulator. The wire is fed through the other end so that it can move freely through the insulator. The far end of the wire is secured directly to another ceramic insulator that is then tied off to the shed.



Now, the snow storm started earlier than previously forecasted - it began around noon. It was now or never.



As I assembled everything, the snow started coming down pretty good but I was able to get everything in place within about an hour.



Now to get it all hooked up and get back on the air for the first time in... roughly 20 years (i.e. when I moved out of the house on my own, and thus away from my father's Shack).



Based on past experiences, it'll probably work like gangbusters just because I put it up during a snowstorm. Almost made it before the snow started flying, but hey - it's up!

Comments

by NG9R 12/3/2007 3:49:17 PM

Congrats on getting back on HF, how has the antenna worked so far?
NG9R

by KA9SRK 12/4/2007 7:21:49 PM

Thanks. :)

So far, it's not bad. It's been a while since I've been on the air, so I've been listening more than participating - my terminology is definitely lacking.

I did make a QSO with a special events station W2W on 40 Meters on Saturday.

Tonight (Tuesday) I tried to check in the Collins Collectors Association net on 3.805 but the band conditions were pretty poor overall. Definitely going to try on Thursday.

While tuning up on 20 meters I got a small RF burn from the chassis, so I need to do something to improve that situation. Right now the ground is a 14 gauge wire to a cold water pipe in the ceiling almost directly above the rig.

Overall, the antenna is decent - not the best, but definitely better than nothing. And my long wire antenna tuning skills are getting better once again. :)

by KA9SRK 12/6/2007 7:27:20 PM

Well, in talking with my dad, he said the band was pretty open overall that night.

Soooo.... I'm now looking into how I can get a Carlina Windom up in the air. Even if it isn't the ideal recommended installation, I hear great things about them.

by W3NRL 12/28/2007 1:32:16 PM

Brian
Way to go on getting the antenna up
hope to get you on the bands
Happy Holidays and great New Year
de w3nrl


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