On 14 Jan 2005 11:11:27 GMT, Steveo wrote:

Frank Gilliland wrote:
On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 21:09:37 -0500, Vinnie S.
wrote in :
Also, I have ground hogs, moles, and rabbits everywhere. Won't they chew
up the coax?

If you leave them on or under the ground, yep.

Then the varmints will sleep with the fish!

Hey Enzo, long time. Don't tell me your new place has one of those
busy body anti antenna rules!?


Hey there. Moped !

No, no probelm with that, but I am too damn low. I wanted to go up a tree and
get as close to 40 feet as possible. This is a temp setup. I don't watch TV
anymore, except the news and sports, and some discovery channel. I might do a
firestik with a GP like Frank suggested. When the weather warms, I wil be able
to go up a tree.

Vinnie S.

On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 07:21:36 GMT, wrote:

On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 05:18:49 GMT, wrote in
:

snip
Vinnie, don't use a tuner if you don't know WTF you're doing,


The guy want's the most bang for his buck, and he can do that with an
antenna tuner. It will probably cost him a whole $20 and it doesn't
take a college degree to operate -- jeez, it's only three knobs. And
even if you don't know what you are doing you can usually fiddle with
it long enough to tune in a good match to just about anything, even a
bed spring.


you'll be constantly throwing carriers yelling AAUDDIOO whistling
into the mike trying to get 1:1, a real pain in the ass
for anyone trying to use the CB in your area. Forget about radials
in the attic, you'll screw it up, stop trying to get cute, JUST BUY A
NORMAL CB ANTENNA AND PUT IT OUTSIDE, YOU F-ING MAROON.


If you get that upset about such a trivial issue then maybe you should
look for a stress management support group in your area.




Antenna tuner loading his rain gutters? Chances are
good he'll be into all the electronic devices in his house.


OK, he doesn't live in a house, it's a RANCH, so all his
cowboy buddies in the bunkhouse will hear him
on their TVs and stereos.

Where do you think I live?

It'll get into the phones too.
And if he starts keyclowning with that setup it'll be
100 times worse. What's wrong with a NORMAL cb
antenna designed for plug and play? Get him messing
with RF grounds and radials and such and he's
headed for disaster. I predict.


Which part of "running barefoot", did you not understand?

Vinnie S.

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 22:53:25 -0800, Frank Gilliland
wrote:

On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 05:18:49 GMT, wrote in
:

snip
Vinnie, don't use a tuner if you don't know WTF you're doing,


The guy want's the most bang for his buck, and he can do that with an
antenna tuner. It will probably cost him a whole $20 and it doesn't
take a college degree to operate -- jeez, it's only three knobs. And
even if you don't know what you are doing you can usually fiddle with
it long enough to tune in a good match to just about anything, even a
bed spring.


you'll be constantly throwing carriers yelling AAUDDIOO whistling
into the mike trying to get 1:1, a real pain in the ass
for anyone trying to use the CB in your area. Forget about radials
in the attic, you'll screw it up, stop trying to get cute, JUST BUY A
NORMAL CB ANTENNA AND PUT IT OUTSIDE, YOU F-ING MAROON.

Geez. This guy needs Dr. Phil. If he gets ****ed off about this, I'd hate to be
his wife or his kids.

Vinnie S.

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 20:24:21 -0800, Frank Gilliland
wrote:

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 21:09:37 -0500, Vinnie S.
wrote in :

On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 01:45:00 GMT, Lancer wrote:


Barefoot or not, an attic is probably the worst place to put an
antenna. You have all kinds of possible problems, not the least of
which is house wiring or foil-backed insulation that can cause
reflections (high SWR).

There is also the issue of polarity. Almost all mobile CB antennas are
vertical so don't expect strong signals from a horizontal antenna, or
even an inverted-V which is largely horizontal. You might get some
skip but that depends a lot on the position of the antenna -- you
might have to rotate your house to align yourself with the traffic.

I would think your best solution is to buy a cheap antenna tuner and
load up the flag pole, rain gutter, drip-strip, sewer vent, aluminum
siding, chain-link fence, steel shed..... whatever works best.


Vinnie;
You said you lived on a ranch? Use Franks tuner idea, run a wire
out the window and tie the other end to a fence post, your wifes
clothes line pole or anything else above eye level.


I don't have a clothesline. I am thinking about running it vertical up a tree,
but would have to trench the coax.


You wouldn't even need coax. Just hook the tuner right to the radio,
ground the radio, and run a single wire out the wall (through an
insulator) to any large metal object you can find, attached to your
house or not. I like metal drip-strips because they circle the entire
roof and make dandy antennas for quick-n-dirty installations.

The problem with a horizontal dipole, as I mentioned before, is the
polarity of the antenna. Most CB antennas are vertical, and if your's
is horizontal you won't hear very many people and they won't hear you.

So if you are determined to use the attic, find the tallest mobile
antenna that will fit straight up in your attic and bolt it to the
floor. Then make a ground plane by running many wires out in every
direction, and as far as you have the space (or wire). Connect the
antenna to the center of the coax, and the ground plane to the shield.
If everything goes well your SWR should be around 1.5:1 to 2:1, which
is fine because you won't be able to get it any lower without losing
signal.

If I use a Firestik, which are usually top-loaded, and connect it to some 9 ft.
piping that I can use as radials (in a crossing pattern), and ground them to a
grounding rod, would that work?


Also, I have ground hogs, moles, and rabbits everywhere. Won't they chew up the
coax?


If you leave them on or under the ground, yep.


I guess I am going to have PVC conduit the coax then. I don't have a choice.

Vinnie S.

Vinnie S. wrote:
On 14 Jan 2005 11:11:27 GMT, Steveo
wrote:

Frank Gilliland wrote:
On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 21:09:37 -0500, Vinnie S.
wrote in :
Also, I have ground hogs, moles, and rabbits everywhere. Won't they
chew up the coax?

If you leave them on or under the ground, yep.

Then the varmints will sleep with the fish!

Hey Enzo, long time. Don't tell me your new place has one of those
busy body anti antenna rules!?

Hey there. Moped !

No, no probelm with that, but I am too damn low. I wanted to go up a tree
and get as close to 40 feet as possible. This is a temp setup. I don't
watch TV anymore, except the news and sports, and some discovery channel.
I might do a firestik with a GP like Frank suggested. When the weather
warms, I wil be able to go up a tree.

Vinnie S.

How about a telescopic mast, they range up to 50 feet. Cement it in the
ground next to the house and attach it at the peak. You will need to guy
wire it too if you fully extend it. What's nice about that set-up is you
can stand on the roof to work on the antenna, then raise it back up when
you're done. Were you thinking of going higher than 50'above grade?

Mrs. Enzo is gonna kick your ass when she sees this monstrosity next to
your new house!

On 14 Jan 2005 14:40:43 GMT, Steveo wrote:



I think Mrs. Enzo will get ****ed. Hiding it out in the trees would be great.
Plus I don't know if there are any local ordinances regarding a mast.

Frank presented another problem. The damn Ground hogs, moles, squirrels, will
eat my coax.

Vinnie S.

Vinnie S. wrote:
On 14 Jan 2005 14:40:43 GMT, Steveo
wrote:

I think Mrs. Enzo will get ****ed. Hiding it out in the trees would be
great. Plus I don't know if there are any local ordinances regarding a
mast.

Best to ask first.

Frank presented another problem. The damn Ground hogs, moles, squirrels,
will eat my coax.

Hit em' with a kill'-o-watt as paybacks!

"Vinnie S." wrote in message
...
On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 18:58:40 -0600, "Richard" wrote:

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 11:50:35 -0500 Vinnie S. wrote:

Hi. If I want to talk abrefoot and run a dipole for 27 MHz in my attic,
I
noticed there are numerous versions. The vertical is out for obvious
reasons. So
there are inverted and horizontal. Is there any version I am better off
using
barefoot?

Vinnie S.

How about a fiberglass marine antenna which requires no ground plane?

Or just as well, a 4ft fiberglass with a piece of metal for the ground
effect.
Being indoors or out, makes little difference.
It's what is covering the antenna that makes the difference.


Well, there is this. Essentially, it's a 5 foot 5/8 wave Firestik, but the
radials are rather short 30". Shouldn't the be like 9ft?

http://www.firestik.com/Catalog/IBA5.htm

Again, I only want this for a temporary solution.

Vinnie S.

Yeah that should work decent as a temp antenna.
Since it has the ground plane rods built in.
Since it's 5ft, that means it's coil loaded. Hence, the 30".
Just don't expect to get the mileage out of it as a bigger antenna would
get.

"Vinnie S." wrote in message
...
On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 20:24:21 -0800, Frank Gilliland

wrote:

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 21:09:37 -0500, Vinnie S.
wrote in :

On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 01:45:00 GMT, Lancer wrote:


Barefoot or not, an attic is probably the worst place to put an
antenna. You have all kinds of possible problems, not the least of
which is house wiring or foil-backed insulation that can cause
reflections (high SWR).

There is also the issue of polarity. Almost all mobile CB antennas are
vertical so don't expect strong signals from a horizontal antenna, or
even an inverted-V which is largely horizontal. You might get some
skip but that depends a lot on the position of the antenna -- you
might have to rotate your house to align yourself with the traffic.

I would think your best solution is to buy a cheap antenna tuner and
load up the flag pole, rain gutter, drip-strip, sewer vent, aluminum
siding, chain-link fence, steel shed..... whatever works best.


Vinnie;
You said you lived on a ranch? Use Franks tuner idea, run a wire
out the window and tie the other end to a fence post, your wifes
clothes line pole or anything else above eye level.


I don't have a clothesline. I am thinking about running it vertical up a
tree,
but would have to trench the coax.


You wouldn't even need coax. Just hook the tuner right to the radio,
ground the radio, and run a single wire out the wall (through an
insulator) to any large metal object you can find, attached to your
house or not. I like metal drip-strips because they circle the entire
roof and make dandy antennas for quick-n-dirty installations.

The problem with a horizontal dipole, as I mentioned before, is the
polarity of the antenna. Most CB antennas are vertical, and if your's
is horizontal you won't hear very many people and they won't hear you.

So if you are determined to use the attic, find the tallest mobile
antenna that will fit straight up in your attic and bolt it to the
floor. Then make a ground plane by running many wires out in every
direction, and as far as you have the space (or wire). Connect the
antenna to the center of the coax, and the ground plane to the shield.
If everything goes well your SWR should be around 1.5:1 to 2:1, which
is fine because you won't be able to get it any lower without losing
signal.

If I use a Firestik, which are usually top-loaded, and connect it to some
9 ft.
piping that I can use as radials (in a crossing pattern), and ground them
to a
grounding rod, would that work?


Also, I have ground hogs, moles, and rabbits everywhere. Won't they chew
up the
coax?


If you leave them on or under the ground, yep.


I guess I am going to have PVC conduit the coax then. I don't have a
choice.

Vinnie S.

I use Davis RF bury-Flex, No critters chewing on it yet! And I gots lots of
critters This goes to an Imax2000

http://www.davisrf.com/ham1/coax.htm#buryflex

I have a standard run (not buried) of RG213 going to a dipole in the trees,
still no knawing, been there for a year.

Chad

On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 10:53:56 -0600, "Chad Wahls" wrote:


I guess I am going to have PVC conduit the coax then. I don't have a
choice.

Vinnie S.

I use Davis RF bury-Flex, No critters chewing on it yet! And I gots lots of
critters This goes to an Imax2000

http://www.davisrf.com/ham1/coax.htm#buryflex

I have a standard run (not buried) of RG213 going to a dipole in the trees,
still no knawing, been there for a year.

Chad



http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/858

Thanks. It got great reviews.

Vinnie S.