Final Antenna Installations Completed!

-
I am halfway through my two week break from work and I have had a great week so far spending lots of quality time with Louise, Dudley and our six and a half week baby Daughter. As you know from my last post I have also been busy in between times trying to get my antennas set up and working more effectively.

I finished off my antenna installations by putting up a second mast to support a Tri-band vertical covering 6m, 2m & 70cms. The shorter leg of my Carolina Windom is also attached to the same mast and terminates at my out building. You can also see Dudley keeping an eye on what's going on in the doorway.
My HF antennas are simple but effective, in the background is my Hustler 6BTV and the previously posted homemade radial kit. Hanging at about 30 feet is my Carolina CW-80 wire antenna which is working really well on all of the HF bands, so is the 6BTV. Its nice having both antennas fed into the FT1000mkv mp as I can easily switch between the two as and when required, making the most of the varied angles and radiation patterns that change throughout the day.

Here is a different angle showing my Sat array, CW-80 wire and Tri-Band Vertical nice and elevated up above the QTH.
Here is a close up of my Satellite Antennas comprising of a 16 element X beam, a 5 element Yagi and a G-5500 Rotator. This antenna set up is now putting an excellent signal into both FM and SSB Satellites. I changed the 145MHz Yagi back to Horizontal polarity allowing me to also use the sat set up whilst working on 144MHz SSB now that it is up high clear of obstructions.

Listen out for me via the birds and on the HF bands over the next few days as I test out the completed final Antenna installation, that is until my next antenna idea. 73 for now.

Comments

Mark GØNMY said…
Hi Simon,
I have been following your blog for a few years now, always good reading and good content.
Glad you have got your ariels up on the house, Although I just wanted to point out there does not seem to be any vertical support with the brackets you have used. After a couple of winter Gales etc the bolts can pull loose. Ideally you should have a K bracket at the bottom of the poles. I'd rather say something now while you still have the ladders etc than read in the future that the gales trashed your antennas and AZ/EL rotator.
Hope you dont mind. keep up the good work. 73 to you and your family. Mark GØNMY
9:10 pm
MØYKS Simon said…
Hi Mark, thanks for the comment and most of all thanks for the helpful advice. I will fit a next K type bracket sooner rather than later.

I was going to put a next fixing at the bottom of the pole but in the near future but after reading your comment I wont bother leaving it and risking it all.

Looks like I will be out in my new workshop again this week ;-) firing up my welding plant. (and loving it)

All the best Mark hope to hear you soon and see you on twitter.

de Simon and Family. 73
10:46 am
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Full Size Delta Loop for 20M

-
Image
I came across a simple delta loop design courtesy of dxzone found on the net some time ago and have been planning to give it a go for a while. This weekend I had a couple of hours spare, so I decided to give it a go using some 2mm multi strand wire cable, a dipole centre and a mixture of 75 ohm and 50 ohm coaxial cable. The delta loop is supposed to be resonant on 20 meters but I found it to be a little high so at present I am tuning the Loop with my mfj-969 which copes extremely well. The resonant frequency is 13.2 MHz at the moment so the next chance I get, I shall shorten the overall length making sure that each of the three sides are still equal in length, and hopefully adjusting the antenna for maximum performance ATU free for 14.2 MHz. I believe the miscalculation in the resonant length is probably down to the fact that my wire is covered in the plastic sleeving from the manufacturer which always effects the swr as I have noticed in past experiments with dipoles you always get sl...
Read more

Homebrew 40/80 Trap Dipole Design

-
Image
This Antenna design was one that I used about 4 years ago, it worked exceptionally well on 80m and 40m. The size of the antenna makes a Half wave length on 80 meters, and with the traps a half wave on 40m with a SWR (standing wave ratio) of 1:1-1.5 across both bands. It worked well also on 20m with the use of an A.T.U (antenna tuning unit). I made my version of this antenna using 3mm multi strand copper cable which I left covered by the PVC insulation. The traps can either be home brewed using some 40mm diameter plastic drain pipe and winding wire around the pipe approximately 10 turns, then connected in line after the 10 metre lengths. Or the alternative is to purchase some commercially made 7.1 MHz traps, and fit them in line the same way. The antenna can be fed with 50 ohm coax with a home brew balan or again a commercially purchased balan. The wire lengths of the dipole are 2x 10 metres and 2x 6.7 metres as shown on the diagram above. This antenna can be mounted quite low to the gr...
Read more

YAESU G - 5500 Elevation Rotator Repair

-
Image
After 10 years of careful use my G-5500 eventually developed a couple of faults on the elevation rotator side.  Fault 1. For the past year I have had to guess the elevation as the readout was no longer working on the controller unit. I suspected the position switch which was located inside the rotator up above the house roof which was a pain in the butt to say the least. Fault 2. Over the winter the gearbox on the elevation rotor seized up solid. I plucked up some courage and erected my ladder and which with the aid of a rope to lower the mast it all worked out quite straight forward. Once down out with the impact driver and away I went. Once I split the case with the impact driver which was easy, I found lots of sandy grit and dried out remains of what should have or once was gearbox/bearing grease. The next step was to inspect the seized gearbox and then remove the main shaft which can only be carried out by first removing the entire gear housing u...
Read more