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Old November 27th 13, 03:58 AM posted to rec.radio.amateur.antenna
[email protected] bradvk2qq@gmail.com is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Nov 2013
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Default Powerline TX antenna? Am I crazy?

On Tuesday, September 24, 2013 1:30:52 PM UTC+10, Anya T. wrote:
Okay, trick question. Of course I'm crazy. :-)



But seriously... I've been thinking of antennas that would work (or at

least tune reasonably) on 80 and 160 meters that wouldn't require taking

over my neighbors' yards (small city plot) and would be acceptable to the

antenna restrictions of my non-ham partner. And I like to experiment.

So I was thinking, could I pull off using my house wiring (possibly up

to the pole pig) as a very random long wire antenna, using a high pass

filter network to isolate the 60Hz power but let the 1.8MHz+ signal pass?



Some parameters and things I've considered:

Max TX power would be 100W. Of course I'd start QRP and ramp up.

I'd build a T network filter (2 caps and 1 inductor) with a rolloff

frequency around 1MHz.

Some of the house wiring is in conduit or MC cable, which of course would

shield the signal in those areas.

I share a pole transformer with at least 3 other houses.

I've worked with 120 before, and respect it's great power (pun intended).

I did see a thread a while ago that mentioned a carrier current system in

a dorm environment, though that seemed to aim to keep ERP to a minimum,

IIRC.



Questions:

What voltage rating should I be using for the caps? I'd figure at least

500V, but would I need more for the RF?

Should I expect appliances and electronics in the house to blow up (or

otherwise be damaged) by upward of 100W coming down the power lines?

Would it be effective only as a TX antenna? i.e. would RX noise be too

great even with the filter network?



Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. It would be neat to have

a working antenna (however well it might work) that was completely

concealed, even if I end up using my 40M dipole as an RX antenna. It

would also save on buying antenna wire.



Thanks in advance, and glad to see Usenet still alive after all these

years (was first on in 1991).



~~Anya, KC2ZAK, FN13



It would be bad. Try holding an HT tuned to an AM or HF frequency, near the power wiring in the wall and you will hear massive amounts of noise being radiated. Every one of those nasty little wall warts is pumping noise back into the wiring. It will be impossible to filter it out.