Saturday, June 25, 2011

Antenna Work

Last week I started playing around with a stealth like antenna set up for the back yard. After doing some research on the world wide web (sounds cool) I picked up a painters pole from the local Home Depot.

Decided to go with the Mr. Long Arm brand 8-23ft light weight extension pole. This pole is very lite, fits into the car for portable use, and seems well made. I started with a 20 meter ham stick, counterpoise wire, and Mr. Longarm attached to my fence. With my Z-11 Pro antenna tuner hooked up to a FT-857D, a few stations were heard across the band. I was not satisfied so I raised the pole up to the full 23 feet and the extra height made a big difference. Another problem is the antenna was mounted very close to my house, a corner spot in the yard more in the open should help the overall performance. More experimenting is needed to get the most out of this set up. Another choice for an antenna is a simple doublet with some speaker wire and a turner.

I see the sun has made its way back to NJ after a week of clouds and rain, after a few morning chores like cutting the lawn, this afternoon I am going to try and get on the air from the yard. If your interested in checking out Mr LongArm here is the link. You have to admit the is a great name, Mr. Long Arm.

http://www.mrlongarm.com/diy-paint.html




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