I passed my general!!! Now, I need some help

[W9JAM]

Hey everyone. I just wanted to share the good news. I took my General Class Element 3 yesterday morning and passed!

I live in a mobile home park and the owner told me he doesn't want ANYTHING that looks like a beam antenna put up. I'm wanting to do a dipole but not sure if the idea I have for it will work.

Was thinking of getting 3 15' pieces of PVC pipe, running the wire between all of them with the coax hookup on the middle pipe. The pipes would be held up by those self-supporting flagpole stands. Thoughts?

The trailer dimensions are 65'x26'x17'

Thank you for any help.

Jeremiah
W9JAM

[W9JAM]

Just updated the signature to reflect the new callsign, sorry about that.

[ad4mg]

Hey everyone. I just wanted to share the good news. I took my General Class Element 3 yesterday morning and passed!

I live in a mobile home park and the owner told me he doesn't want ANYTHING that looks like a beam antenna put up. I'm wanting to do a dipole but not sure if the idea I have for it will work.

Was thinking of getting 3 15' pieces of PVC pipe, running the wire between all of them with the coax hookup on the middle pipe. The pipes would be held up by those self-supporting flagpole stands. Thoughts?

The trailer dimensions are 65'x26'x17'

Thank you for any help.

Jeremiah
W9JAM

Congratulations on the upgrade!

One suggestion on the dipole ... if you feed it with 300 ohm twin lead and use a 4:1 balun as close as possible to the rig to switch to coax, the antenna should load on several bands. Ordinary twin lead (like that used for TV antennas) will handle the power output from your rig, but if you're planning to use an amplifier, the heavier gauge twin lead available from amateur radio dealers like the Wire Man should be used.

During the continuing solar minimum, you will find the low bands to be your friend. At ~65', the dipole should perform pretty well on 40 meters, although the limited height is going to dictate an omni-directional pattern, and ground loss will also be a factor, but don't let that deter you!

[n2ize]

Even better. Feed the antenna with 300 ohm TV twin lead. Or better yet, 450 ohm ham radio twin lead, or still better, ladder line. Cut the antenna for the lowest (frequency) band you will operate on...as instructed above. Match it to your radio with a tuner...preferably a link coupled variety. You can sometimes find them at ham fests. They are also easy to build if you can get some coil stock and variable condensers.

[rot]

The whole [dipole>300 ohm TV Twin>Balun/Tuner] deal is so classic.
I was the recommend to me when I did the general. Had more damn fun with that thing.
Enjoy and Congrats.
rot

[WV6Z]

Congrats!!! Sounds like you have some pretty good ideas already! N2IZE and ROTley definitely have you pointed in the right direction. Although there are some more efficient wire designs, they tend to require a lot more vertical altitude which may put you under the landlord's microscope. Start with your plans, continue to investigate systems that may be more efficient and experiment as you go. The important thing now is to get some wire up, get on the air and see how effective you can be with what you will be permitted to do.

[W3MIV]

All good advice to profit from, Jeremiah. The only quibbles I would have are with the TV twin-lead. I would urge you to search around and get hold of some honest, 300 ohm ladder line. It is often available at hamfests, and there are a number of outfits selling online. I think DX Engineering sells it. Google is your friend.

Bring that line straight to your tuner -- and a good tuner is a must. Again, hamfests as IZE recommends are a good source, but don't fall for a lot of the baloney about MFJ. His tuners work well, and something like a 904 with the meter and balun make things a bit easier. If running the ladder line into the shack is a problem (300ohm stuff is a hell of a lot easier than the 450), you can connect the coax and the balanced line just outside the shack (waterproof it) and make a coil of about a dozen turns of coax in a six- to nine-inch circle to choke off currents on the shield. The tuner will handle the match.

Finally, I would add two feet and make the total length of your dipole 67 feet -- every little bit helps. ;)

Don't try to rely on the tuner built into your rig. It will not have sufficient matching capacity, for your configuration will be well outside the usual 3:1 envelope such tuners can handle. Having a meter on the tuner is a big plus.

Most important: Have fun. Let us know when you "gits on the ahr."

[PA5COR]

Congratulations on the upgrade ;)

Some good addvise above, try that out first, you might be surprised how good it works ;)

[NQ6U]

I concur with pretty much everything that's been said here but would add that if it's at all possible to get that wire up to thirty feet, by all means do it. You'll find your 40m propagation will be much improved. At fifteen feet, most of your signal will go straight up an you'll mostly just be heating the clouds.

[W3MIV]

NVIS works better than nuttin. Given the landlord issue, thirty feet is likely outside the envelope.