Hi everyone!
             I recently bought a Chameleon vertical antenna for my shack. I installed the antenna on a vent pipe on my roof. My question is- I have a ground wire running from the antenna across my roof and down the side of the house and connects to three ground rods. At one point in the run my coax lays on top of the ground wire. Is this OK or am I going to have problems?

Thanks

KI4SJU

Here is a picture of my property, maybe this can help you all give me some ideas as of what to use. Hustler 5BTV is now ground mounted and not on the antenna stand. Thought about using the stand and a telescoping pole to either raise my G5RV or a rotatable dipole.

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p79/btlacer/DSC04016.jpg

Well I just had a thought, like some of you have said, reuse my g5rv but use a different mast. What about a telescopic mast? Which would be better fiberglass or aluminum? Also thought about the mfj bigear rotating dipole or a dipole similar. Has anyone used one?

Well I am looking around $300 or so price range. I have a ground stand that I can mount a telescoping mast to. Does anyone have a good antenna recommendation that I can mount to a telescoping mast? Vertical or dipole? I really do not want to have to lay out radials even tho I know it will work better but with all the kids running around here I know they would be pulling them up.

Hello fellow hams! I have a question and need some feedback. I live in a one story apartment building. I had a mfj G5RV up on the roof. The center of the antenna was attached to a PVC vent pipe and each leg of the G5RV went it other vent pipes. It worked OK but a recent snow storm took it down. I am looking to put up a vertical on the vent pipe but not sure which one to get. I can not have a 20 foot antenna or something like that up there. I was thinking maybe a Chameleon type antenna? Anyone used one for base setup? Anyone know of a vertical that has a small foot print that works well? Thanks

73's
Beau

I have a Yaesu FT-450 and was looking at trading radios, I was looking at trading it for a Icom 718. Would this be a good trade or should I hold on the the FT 450? I like the 718 due to being able to enter frequencies via the keypad. Can anyone give me their thoughts of both radios? All comments will be helpfull.

Hello all, I have a strage problem with my DM780. I went from a Yaesu Ft-920 to a Yaesu Ft-450 and now my DM780 does not work correctly. The waterfall is all the way over on the left between 100 and 200. I have no Idea what is going on. I can not even get my signalink to key up. I am using the 6 pin din on the back of the 450. Can anyone help?

I would love everyones input! I have a Yaesu Ft-920 and love the radio but I was looking at trading for a Yaesu Ft-450. Would this be a wise idea or would it be a down grade from the 920 to the 450? Thanks everyone and 73's

Ok I know this is a stupid question but I recently installed my 5BTV on the ground. I hammered a 4 foot pipe in the ground and mounted the antenna 4 inches off the ground.  I have a ground rod in the ground beside the antenna and attached the ground wire attached to the U bolts on the mounting bracket. My question is that the proper location to mount the ground or should it mount to the underside of the antenna where you connect the center of the coax to the antenna? Or should I mount the ground to the holes above the U bolt holes? Oh and one more question,  should I mount the radials to the same location as the ground wire or should they be seperated?

Ok I am really considering moutning the 5BTV on the ground. I have a few issues tho. It will have to be mounted close to the house, on a corner of my house. Wonder how bad that is going to effect the operation of my antenna, plus with it being lower to the ground will it operate better then being up in the air? I worry about RF hitting my kids with the antenna being on the ground, because the only location I can put it is on the corner of their room. Then I will not be able to put radials 360 degrees around my antenna, so how bad will that work? If you all think it will be better on the ground and should not bother my kids real bad then I will try it. I do have a ground rod hammered into the ground.

Here is a pic of my lay out I am working with... What do you all think?
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p79/btlacer/Proposal-1.jpg

Thanks for all the great feed back, in reality I cant really put down any radials,
elevated or ground due to my layout of property. So will adding these hamsticks or hamtenna make my 5btv work better? I was reading on a site somewhere that I should use two of the same band hamsticks, or will one of each work better? My last question is, how will I attach these antennas to the radial terminals under the 5btv? Should I use coax with a pl 259 on hamtenna side and then cut the coax in half and attach the center conductor and shield to the radial terminals? Sorry for the dumb questions, I am still new to the HF thing.

Thanks

I really dont have a way to lay down radials for my hustler 5BTV antenna that is mounted about 10 feet above the ground. I saw a article here on Eham and wanted to know if this will work ok for my antenna.

I want to buy two 20 meter and 2 40 meter ham sticks and mount them in a x patern on the mast of the 5BTV to act as radials. Or maybe get other ham sticks for different bands instead of two for one band. Since they are cut for the bands, I thought this might work better than no radials at all. Please give me your feed back!

Thanks so much!
73's

Here is the link to the article that gave me this idea.
http://www.eham.net/articles/17580

Good morning my fellow hams! I need some help from you all. I have had this 5BTV up for about 2 months now and it does ok but I know it will do better with radials, but I am not sure how to do it with my layout or if it would even help to put them down in my setup? I have put links to pictures of my setup below. You all usually have great insight and great brainstorming ideas so maybe you all can help me? I hope to hear and talk to you all soon.

73's
KI4SJU

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p79/btlacer/DSC04017.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p79/btlacer/DSC04016.jpg

Thanks for the help, I bought a 8 pin connector at Radio shack to use on the 920. All I need to do now is figure how to wire the 3 pin xlr to a 8 pin for the 920. Can anyone help?

I have a Radio Shack Super-Cardioid Dynamic MicrophoneModel: 33-128 | Catalog #: 33-128 that I would like to use instead of the hand mic. Can anyone help me in how to wire this mic to the 8 pin on the front of my radio? Will I have to have a foot switch of will I be able to turn the mic on and off with the switch on the mic? Thanks for all of your help! and 73's