Hiya...

Non technical newly minted ham here :-)

Now that I've decided on what to get for my first ham radio,
(TS-590s)
I'm moving on to deciding on an antenna.

The goal will be DX'ing the ham bands with phone and eventually CW.
I'm looking for an antenna set up that will work on 10 to 80 meters.
Of course, multiple specific antennas would be an ideal, but that is
not in the cards.

I've had a few options in mind. All of course, would be coupled with
an antenna tuner if the internal auto tuner on the radio cold not do
the job.

1. Set up a butternut HF9V on a roof mount approx 30-35 feet above
the
ground with tuned radials. The problem being, the footprint of my
roof is only 35' x 35'. With the antenna set up in the center of the
roof, there wlll be only a max of 17" to string the radials outward.
I'd have to "snake" them in order to fit and figure out how to secure
them. Another draw back is that verticles tend to be more noisey.

2. Set up a GAP Titan on a roof mount approx 30-35 feet up. No
radials needed with that antenna, but I have been told/read that
unless perfectly assembled, they dont work as advertised. Again...
Vertile can be a noisy antenna.

3. Set up a Chameleon V11 or v12 verticle rigid diepole on a non
conductive mast mounted to brackets on the side of the house with the
feed point of the antenna being about 25 to 30 feet high. This
antenna
is advertised as a "dipole" and does not need any radial set up.
There
have only been a few reviews of this antenna. All are very
favorable, but is
it too good to be true ??? A verticle mounted rigid antenna working
with
no radials even if it is called a dipole ???

4. Go with a wire antenna. I had in mind using the Buckmaster off
center fed diepole. The eight band 300 watt version has two pole
lenghts of 90' and 180' respectively. I had in mind hooking the
center feed point to the apex hight of the side of my house to a non
conductive hook i can scew in up there. There is enough lenght of
space on my lot to let both the long and short pole ends to extend
out
and down in and inverted V. I'd secure the pole ends to the ground
with plastic cord and non conductive ground spikes so that the
receiving wire was still elevated 8 to 10" above the ground. The
feed
line would not go straight down from the apex. Since the top of the
roof is right where the feed point would be secored, I'd pull the feed
up
and right on to the roof. From there, run it across the roof and down
the
other side and right into the shack on the top floor of the other side
of the house.
is. The upside... No ground or radials needed, no expensive or
troublesome set up and I can take the thing down in fifteen minutes
with no problems at all. Just a small hook left in the side of the
house. It wuld also be a more "quite" antenna vs. a verticle like
the
ones mentioned above. The down side... It would radiate well east
and
west, but not well off the poles north and south. Also... The very
top of the
antenna would not be elevated above the house, so about ten feet of
each pole
up top would be obscured on one side by the house.

Well... That's about it...

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanx in advance.

Michael

On Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:53:09 -0700 (PDT), Michael
wrote:

Hiya...

Non technical newly minted ham here :-)

Now that I've decided on what to get for my first ham radio,
(TS-590s)
I'm moving on to deciding on an antenna.

The goal will be DX'ing the ham bands with phone and eventually CW.
I'm looking for an antenna set up that will work on 10 to 80 meters.
Of course, multiple specific antennas would be an ideal, but that is
not in the cards.

I've had a few options in mind. All of course, would be coupled with
an antenna tuner if the internal auto tuner on the radio cold not do
the job.


The first antenna you buy or build will be a disappointment.

Bigger is always better than smaller with an antenna. We all
eventually learn that.

A multi band antenna is like a Swiss Army Knife. (I use both!) They
are very handy, but it is always easy to find a better solution to the
task at hand.

Cautiously imitate the success of others before you get too serious
about innovating. There are reasons why some antennas or equipment are
or are not popular.

Locally here in Central North Carolina the recommendation to new Hams
is what is known as the G5RV antenna. There are a lot of respected
vendors who offer G5RV's at competitive prices. You will need some
kind of tuner sooner or later.

Get on the air! Find out what direction you really want to go.

On Jun 18, 10:15*am, W8CCW wrote:
On Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:53:09 -0700 (PDT), Michael





wrote:
Hiya...

Non technical newly minted ham here :-)

Now that I've decided on what to get for my first ham radio,
(TS-590s)
I'm moving on to deciding on an antenna.

The goal will be DX'ing the ham bands with phone and eventually CW.
I'm looking for an antenna set up that will work on 10 to 80 meters.
Of course, multiple specific antennas would be an ideal, but that is
not in the cards.

I've had a few options in mind. *All of course, would be coupled with
an antenna tuner if the internal auto tuner on the radio cold not do
the job.

The first antenna you buy or build will be a disappointment.

Bigger is always better than smaller with an antenna. We all
eventually learn that.

A multi band antenna is like a Swiss Army Knife. (I use both!) They
are very handy, but it is always easy to find a better solution to the
task at hand.

Cautiously imitate the success of others before you get too serious
about innovating. There are reasons why some antennas or equipment are
or are not popular.

Locally here in Central North Carolina the recommendation to new Hams
is what is known as the G5RV antenna. There are a lot of respected
vendors who offer G5RV's at competitive prices. You will need some
kind of tuner sooner or later.

Get on the air! Find out what direction you really want to go.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanx for the response...

I actually have a 102' G5RV that I used to use for short-wave
listening. Currently, it is coiled up in storage in my basement. I
took that antenna down along with a long wire I had after I built the
inverted L that I currently use for short wave listening. The
inverted L did better across the board than those other two antennas,
so I took them down. The G5RV had a decent signal to noise ratio for
short wave, but the inverted L I built is considerably better. I'd
assume that grounding the matching transformer properly made all the
difference. At any rate... I would not used that old G5RV for my
transmit antenna because the feed line is only 300 ohms. Since I have
decided to go with a wire dipole for starters, I'm moving on now to
buy the best one I can find. I don't care to homebrew my first ham
antenna... Rather have one that I'm sure works while I'm learning the
ropes

On Jun 18, 6:26*pm, Michael wrote:
On Jun 18, 10:15*am, W8CCW wrote:









On Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:53:09 -0700 (PDT), Michael

wrote:
Hiya...

Non technical newly minted ham here :-)

Now that I've decided on what to get for my first ham radio,
(TS-590s)
I'm moving on to deciding on an antenna.

The goal will be DX'ing the ham bands with phone and eventually CW.
I'm looking for an antenna set up that will work on 10 to 80 meters.
Of course, multiple specific antennas would be an ideal, but that is
not in the cards.

I've had a few options in mind. *All of course, would be coupled with
an antenna tuner if the internal auto tuner on the radio cold not do
the job.

The first antenna you buy or build will be a disappointment.

Bigger is always better than smaller with an antenna. We all
eventually learn that.

A multi band antenna is like a Swiss Army Knife. (I use both!) They
are very handy, but it is always easy to find a better solution to the
task at hand.

Cautiously imitate the success of others before you get too serious
about innovating. There are reasons why some antennas or equipment are
or are not popular.

Locally here in Central North Carolina the recommendation to new Hams
is what is known as the G5RV antenna. There are a lot of respected
vendors who offer G5RV's at competitive prices. You will need some
kind of tuner sooner or later.

Get on the air! Find out what direction you really want to go.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanx for the response...

I actually have a 102' G5RV that I used to use for short-wave
listening. *Currently, it is coiled up in storage in my basement. I
took that antenna down along with a long wire I had after I built the
inverted L that I currently use for short wave listening. *The
inverted L did better across the board than those other two antennas,
so I took them down. *The G5RV had a decent signal to noise ratio for
short wave, but the inverted L I built is considerably better. *I'd
assume that grounding the matching transformer properly made all the
difference. *At any rate... *I would not used that old G5RV for my
transmit antenna because the feed line is only 300 ohms. *Since I have
decided to go with a wire dipole for starters, I'm moving on now to
buy the best one I can find. *I don't care to homebrew my first ham
antenna... Rather have one that I'm sure works while I'm learning the
ropes

Since you decided to start with a wire dipole, consider making or
downloading a map centered on your location so you optimize the
orientation for whom you want to work. For example, my 20m Field Day
dipole will be optimized for 060 degrees, the bearing from Southern
California that favors the most of North America. Getting it wrong can
cost more than an s-unit.

http://www.wm7d.net/az_proj/ will provide one from your inputs. (I
could only get it to print North America just now; probably something
I did.)

If you make a resonant dipole cut to length for one band (my
preference), its height-above-ground affects its resonant frequency.
Close to the ground brings resonance at a lower frequency than the
formulas predict, so you'd need to shorten it to bring it to resonance
(at that height).

Antennas can be hard work but when you get one that plays well, it's
all worth it.

"Sal"
(KD6VKW)

On Sat, 18 Jun 2011 23:31:46 -0700, Sal M. Onella rearranged some
electrons to say:


http://www.wm7d.net/az_proj/ will provide one from your inputs. (I
could only get it to print North America just now; probably something I
did.)

Change the map scale to something other than the default.

On Jun 20, 3:29*am, david wrote:
On Sat, 18 Jun 2011 23:31:46 -0700, Sal M. Onella rearranged some
electrons to say:

http://www.wm7d.net/az_proj/will provide one from your inputs. *(I
could only get it to print North America just now; probably something I
did.)

Change the map scale to something other than the default.

Thanks :-)