On Sat, 8 Nov 2014, wrote:

Channel Jumper wrote:

You can buy a decent 10 / 11 meter ground plane antenna for about $69.00
- why in the heck would you want to build one out of plastic pipe?

Because you can make on for about $20 even if you have to buy everything
new and even less if you have some extra wire and pipe.

On the other hand, I once bought a CB set at a garage sale (I had
intentions for reusing it) for all of five dollars, and they threw in an
SWR meter and the whip antenna. I couldn't be bothered carrying the whip,
so I left it, but at that price, it probably could have formed a good
basis of a 10M antenna. And back in the day, I remember various projects
that used CB whips for other bands, simply because as a mass produced
item, they were cheap and easy to find.

But no, if you have to pay $70, scrounging will always be cheaper.

Michael

On Thursday, November 6, 2014 3:15:23 PM UTC-5, wrote:
I'm planning on building a 10 meter ground plane antenna out of PVC pipe and #12 wire radials drooping about 40 degrees. This will be mounted on my roof on a tripod and mast, with the radials also serving as guy wires. The ARRL antenna book mentions that a ground plane antenna should be mounted at least one half wavelength above "ground". I know that this sounds like a stupid question but I have to ask: for this example do I consider the roof, which is more than 5 meters above ground level as "ground" or do I need to be at least 5 meters above the roof. I would like to secure the radials, (guy wires) to my roof, but with the antenna at 5 meters high my droop angle will be off and then I can't guarantee a 50 ohm match. The house is wood frame, no foil backed insulation and a non metallic roof. Thanks for any advice. Lenny

Thanks for the encouragement guys. When I was 15 (53 years ago) I built my second kit, an Eico CB transceiver. I was really proud of the finished product. I had built a Lafayette short wave receiver two years prior.

Back then, when CB was in it's infancy CB'ers were kind of like many Hams today. For the most part we were a technical group and a whole lot more professional than many of the morons on CB today. I lived in an apartment house in the Bronx. I built a quarter wave dipole and strung it between two water towers. As soon as I got on the air I found a group of guys that would get together every night and chew the rag.

At 15 some of these guys could have been my grandfather, but I was accepted without issue. And at 15 I was not yet an electronics technician either but I guess I was guilty by association. I learned so much from these guys and I truly believe that it paved the way for my ultimate career choice.

Back then we built our own stuff and that's just how it was. I just always loved to experiment. And I still do so. So yeah 69.00 for an antenna isn't much, but when you compare it to the satisfaction gained from building your own and seeing it perform, as the commercial says, "priceless". Lenny

On 11/6/2014 3:15 PM, wrote:
I'm planning on building a 10 meter ground plane antenna out of PVC pipe and #12 wire radials drooping about 40 degrees. This will be mounted on my roof on a tripod and mast, with the radials also serving as guy wires. The ARRL antenna book mentions that a ground plane antenna should be mounted at least one half wavelength above "ground". I know that this sounds like a stupid question but I have to ask: for this example do I consider the roof, which is more than 5 meters above ground level as "ground" or do I need to be at least 5 meters above the roof. I would like to secure the radials, (guy wires) to my roof, but with the antenna at 5 meters high my droop angle will be off and then I can't guarantee a 50 ohm match. The house is wood frame, no foil backed insulation and a non metallic roof. Thanks for any advice. Lenny

The ground is that muddy stuff your wife calls DIRT when you track it
indoors.

He's Older than dirt!
(Well yes he is cause he watched the building being built and it was
EARTH or GROUND before the building was built, it did not become DIRT
till it was tracked indoors).

The office I retired from.... Well,, See above. I watched' em buldoze
the building that used to be there and build the new one so I was, in
that office, older than dirt.

--
Home, is where I park it.

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