Every General Aviation VHF radio I've worked on is in the 4-7 watt range.  Given the fact that VHF is line of site, and from altitude there is a lot of line of site.  It seems there is little reason to not use aircraft radios as other aircraft could be made aware of your presence on the Unicomm frequencies.  If you really think you need more gain mount an antenna with a little gain and you should have plenty ability to make 5-10 miles while airborne.  A dirt cheap Aircraft handheld will more than likely be all you need.  A predeparture communications test seems like a no-brainer. 

Back story: A local Ham is having antenna issues.  He lives on a very small lot, lives on a very limited budget, and not in the best neighborhood.  In the past a home brewed dipole attached to his fence worked well on 40m-10m, until the hoodlums cut the guys.  Replacing them is getting old.  Limited tree heights are an issue too but they are high enough that a wire 20m vert is keeping things going, but only on 20m for the most part.

The good news is just before retirement the one car garage roof was redone in metal.  It is block construction so the idea is a vertical attached to it might get him on 40-30-20?.  Research has shown some DIY aluminum pipe verts can tune pretty well but a specific design has not been nailed down.   Mounting the antenna in the middle of the roof may prove a challenge, so that is a factor too.  Mounting on the side of the building will be simple.  

I've built many an antenna.  With access to a tool and die shop and the people capable of that kind of work it seems there must be a design that will help this Ham to get back to his 'net chats and OM stuff.  Please help us help this long time friend of the radio stay on the air.  Any design Ideas to meet this criteria?

Depends on the wire.  if it is steel core copper clad, not a problem.  If it is the standard stranded copper wire it's weight versus say 14 or 16 gauge might case more stretching over time.  If the real question is would you build an antenna with the stuff you have on hand or can get at a bargain price? ABSOLUTELY!!  The knowledge gained and experience earned are worth it, even if it's life is not that of a high dollar commercial unit. 

There are plans on the net for J-pole made from twin lead.  That would not look like and antenna to curious eyes.  There are designs that use the PVC vent pipes to hide 1/4 wave vertical.  The foil backed insulation might be a big help as a ground plane.

Is there some magical trick to hand winding coils for a match box?  I am building a tuner for a random wire and attempting, without success, to wind the inductor. 

I am using a 2" PVC core and 14g bare copper.  So far I have mastered the copper slinky. 

Thanks,

Bill
 

Your set up sounds fine.  But I would urge you to study and get your General before buying gear.  Most folks seem to end up on HF sooner or later and spending money with HF in mind could save your hard earned dollars in the long run.

No. Nor was he a contester or Worked all whatever guy, he used his ticket to talk to family members. 

But early in my ham days, I bought a stack of W1FB authored books and have been interested since.  For someone that likes to experiment and build his work was instrumental in my involvement and continued enjoyment of the hobby.

Save the money you are planning for the antenna and build one yourself.  Perhaps the savings would be enough to get you into either a couple used rigs in HF and VHF/UHF or an all-in-one like someone else mentioned.   Great antennas can be built from a trip to the home improvement store and electrical supply house for both HF and the FM stuff.  Starting simple, say a two band HF dipole and a homebrew yagi or cubical quad, offers more chance for success. 

Remember, anyone can rifle through a catalog and buy all the goodies to assemble a shack, but there is a lot of pride that goes into actually building one. 

I was in the same situation, kind of.  My house is a bi-level.  The lower floor is half underground in the front but walks out to ground level in the rear.  In my lower level shack my dual-bander HT was lacking.  On a whim, I bought a Radio Shack dual band antenna and a cheapo 20' piece of 50 ohm coax from the same place.  This was enough for me to get the (cheapo) antenna clamped to my deck rail (on the upper level) and into my shack to the HT. 

It was like night and day.  I could hear repeaters I didn't even know were there.  The idea is; do you need the Cadillac setup or something to improve on what you have?  I opted for the later, which has since been replaced, but provided a means to have some fun. 

That said buy decent coax, consider building and antenna, and get the antenna as high as you can. 

This is the rig I bought.  If you are interested in digital work there is a direct PC interface available.  It met my needs perfectly.

Can you remove the entire fixture?  If so, drill the hole to 7/8" and use a proper strain relief / wire protection device in the correctly sized (for electrical stuff) hole.  Obviously, turning the power off to the device, and safely disconnecting the wires are a prerequisite.

A $1 part to hold the Romex in place may be all that is needed. 

On another note, thank goodness this was found before it caused the loss of life or property. 

Try this:

http://www.virtins.com/page3.shtml

Congrats!! 

Ken sold me an unused White Mountain 40M Radio Kit.  It is in perfect shape and arrived as quoted.  An excellent Ham to do business with as well as a darn nice guy. 

Bill
NI3S

Allen,

I'll second the congrats and urge you to chase down the Extra.  If the only thing you get out of it is a little more understanding of radio and some personal growth, then it still will be worth the time. 

One of my personal issues with HAM radio is the idea that you need to go buy the fanciest DC to Daylight rig and you need a computer capable of besting a 14 year old underachiever at online gaming.  The truth is there are many non-digital radios available for a song.  A homemade cable or two and a basic (old) computer combined with free software gets you up on the digital modes.  A single band wire antenna made from cheap materials will work well enough to see if you enjoy a particular element of HAM. 

Following that maybe a person might decide they want to work a few digital modes and try RTTY contesting.  Perhaps the idea of watts per mile is the idea.  What if someone wants the ability to boom SSB through pile-ups and work all whatever?  Hey it is possible an individual finds making contacts boring, so they move to the building side of the hobby.

The equipment will be different in the shacks/workshops of the above enthusiasts.  If you enjoy building test equipment can be paramount.  Other stations will focus more on making and logging contacts in short order.  What you are interested in and where you want to do it from can dictate what equipment is feasible. 

As a frugal ticket holder, my focus has always been to maximize my enjoyment of the hobby per dollar spent. 

I hope you enjoy whatever avenue you choose to take.

Bill