Let’s get up on the roof and figure out how to correct our bent HF antenna. Some planning for the relocation and new antenna opportunities can be discussed, as well!
When are yall going to put up the full wave antenna wire? Apparently it can be tuned to many frequencies …
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Has the tuner been checked / repaired yet ?
We know it’s been somewhat open to the elements, and that we’ve had a LOT of rain. It’s going to need to be checked and possibly repaired as a first step.
Unless of course we take it out of the line and use a tuner at the desk. Not optimum, but seems to work for a great many hams…
I thought the antenna already ( or somewhat ) up now is a fan dipole. Didn’t see any traps in the pics Art posted a while back.
A full wave 80m loop around the perimeter would be interesting at some point. Tune to 80m resonance, then you get 40, 20, and 10 as I recall. Something of an NVIS antenna since the launch angle is very high. But that’s not a bad thing for emcom.
There are low cost antenna switch kits around that would probably serve to let us change among several antennas.
A magnetic loop would also make a fun project. Nice low profile antenna with a built in tuner.
I would highly recommend a NVIS antenna. The gold standard is AS-2259 with an auto tuner. I’ve used this setup to do lots of around the world work and ALE(pactor,SSB, etc)
I just made plans Thursday to be out of town that weekend. I hope it all goes smoothly.
- KG5QBI
I would highly recommend something discrete since our lease specifically prohibits installing any antennas on the roof.
I will retrieve the auto tuner in the next few days - before the next round of rain - and put it on the AR bench in the ELab.
I would highly recommend against taking a group of members up on the roof and walking across the are above the new area. It will cause insulation to rain down - especially in the back area. If you’ve been over there and looked up, you know what the problem is.
We do have a place to run a ground strap(s) out to a ground rod(s) in the standpipe closet.
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Ditto what Art says.
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Pole is in good shape. The base needs straightening/reinforcement - just like last time.
ELab will NOT have 220/240v service.
On my calendar.
Count me in too
Don’t think that is a trap dipole. The three wires on each side of the feedpoint, and you know - the lack of traps - kinda points heavily towards a fan dipole. The items between the wires in some of Art’s pics are spacers.
And for future consideration, there are trees at the end of the building on the north side of the building. Right outside the new ELab. Wire antennas or other things in those trees might be an option.
The reason I’ve suggest a mag loop is that even a big one is low profile enough to not be visible from the street. If we have problems because of mast height, it’s something to consider. I think we have the tools. We’d need to find a vacuum variable cap for it and a stepper for tuning. A small rotor under the base lets you aim the nulls towards noise if needed.
Anything that can be visually hidden by the trees is going to be a big plus - not necessarily in the trees, but obscuring line of sight from the ground.
Fabricating the loop itself will be the “fun”. Forming 1" or larger tubing into a loop 6 feet in diameter is a challenge.
We’d have to take up a collection to buy the caps.
Will put it on the list and be on the lookout for parts.
That would make sense. 10m and 20m as separate elements and then traps on the 40m element to get 80m. I assumed the things at the end of the long element were insulators. Not enough resolution in any of the pics to tell.
I’ll try to be there for a while Saturday morning. 2nd Saturday again, so I have an afternoon commitment.
Having built one of these and compared it to the one made by harris, they are night and day. Magic it is not 
I don’t want to high jack this topic, so mods please move if necessary.
Is there any interest in mounting a
LoRa antenna?
Not that the goal would be 20-Kim or even 2-km, but it would be educational.
As part of expansion committee, I’m going to go ahead and ask y’all to limit the number of people on the roof to no more than two. Having been up there more times than I would like recently, I know there is work to be done on the antenna, and I have no issues with that.
That being said, we’ve found a number of leaks in 102 that have become a real PITA, as far as the move is concerned. We’re having these issues addressed, but in the mean time, please keep the number of volunteers to an absolute minimum.
Oh, and it doesn’t matter where you walk. The edges leak just as badly as the middle.