I fully realize that there are almost too many variables to answer this question, but "in general" is 6 meters more prone to cause RFI to TV's, telephones, etc., than 2 meters?  I realize a lot of things have changed since I was active in Amateur Radio, most have cable TV, cordless telephones, etc.  There are a few houses located about 500' in different directions from the tower is the reason I ask.

No insulators.  I originally put the tower up for my business radio repeater and wasn't thinking "ham radio".  I purposely did not put insulators in the guy wires and installed 3 ground rods at each guy wire anchor location as part of the lightning protection setup.

What effect of the guy wires prompted you to ask the question about insulators?

I will also be asking the internet provider to lower two omni antennas down from the top about 5'.

http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss252/N1048D/Tower_640x480.jpg

I let a local internet provider use the sides of the tower for relay purposes so I don't want to mount anything except maybe an inverted-v on the side of the tower.  I will be removing the business band VHF folded dipole array that is now on the top of the tower and running a coax jumper from the existing 7/8" Heliax that now feeds the VHF folded dipole array to the 2 or 6 meter yagi.

I am trying to decide if I want to chance mounting something at the neck of the tower as big as a Hy-Gain DB-1217 for HF or just a rotatable 17 meter dipole to reduce windload.  Since 6 meters is about 3/4 wavelength of 17 meters, I would mount the 6 meter yagi 10' above a DB-1217 whereas I would only mount a 2 meter yagi 6' above.  If I go with a simple 17 meter rotatable dipole, I could turn the boom of the 6 meter yagi parallel to the 17 meter dipole to reduce interaction.  With the reduced windload of the 17 meter dipole as opposed to the DB-1217 yagi, I would consider putting a relatively small 3-element 6 meter yagi 10' above and parallel to the dipole and a relatively small 8-element 2 meter yagi sandwiched between with 5' separation from each.  Any other suggestions considering this is only Rohn 25 tower?

I am going to put either a 2 meter or 6 meter horizontal yagi on a 180' Rohn 25 tower, one or the other to minimize windload.  Which band would you choose for SSB?  In general in the continental United States, which SSB portion has the most local ragchew type activity when the band is not open for other modes of propagation?

I am going this afternoon to purchase a replacement for a failed harddrive in a Dell desktop to be used as a dedicated host for an internet remote station.  I will be using a static IP internet address at the remote site.  I would think a static IP would be more vulnerable to attacks.  But, if the computer is never used to access the internet for other purposes besides Skype to pass the audio, LogMeIn to provide remote desktop control, and HRD for rig control, would antivirus software be required?

The reason I ask is that I never realized how much of a hog Norton Internet Security is until my subscription ran out once on my laptop.  The laptop booted up several times faster and did not seem as sluggish.

That's exactly the route I am currently taking.

You always run into several details with a project like this one.  The old desktop computer I planned to use has Windows ME which I found to be very unstable and it did not have an ethernet card and only an 800 MHz processor with 256 MB RAM.  I am going this afternoon to purchase a replacement for a failed internal harddrive for a Dell desktop that I have which had Windows XP Professional and it has 1 GB RAM, a 1.6 GHz processor, USB 2.0 ports, ethernet card, etc.  The Dell should make a good dedicated host computer for this venture.

Has anyone configured a Hy-Gain DB-1217 for 10 and 17 meters instead of 12 and 17 meters?

Another thought I had was to use the tower to hold up a quarter wavelength of wire for 160 meters and utilize the roof of the 50'x75' metal shop building as the primary ground plane.  The wire would probably be at about a 30 degree angle from vertical running from the center of the roof to somewhere near the top of the tower.


I may substitute a 60 meter double bazooka for the 40 meter inverted-v at around 130' just because I have never operated the 60 meter band.  The whole idea here is that there has to be something in it that excites me for me to go to the trouble.  Right now the internet remote base aspect and utilizing my tower excites me.  I could have never justified the trouble and expense of putting up 180' of tower for Ham Radio, but now since I have the tower, free internet, extra desktop computer, several Astron power supplies, extra Heliax, and many other things left over from my active days, might as well...

Actually the Icom 706 (first generation) was fairly quiet in the Archer and noticeably quieter than in my Toyota Tacoma pickup.

I traded the Archer for a Maule M-7-235 but only ran business 2-way in the Maule.  I now have a Mooney Bravo but don't want to drill holes in it for antennas .  I did look the other day about running a 2 meter whip out the drain hole in the rotating beacon cover on the belly of the Mooney.  Seems like I read somewhere that belly mounted antennas actually perform better on aircraft but are more prone to damage.  The Mooney would be fun because it has built-in oxygen and I occasionally fly it up around 18,000' which would cover quite a distance on 146.520 FM.

One detail about running aeronautical mobile in the Mooney would be that I normally file IFR even when the weather is "severe clear" for added safety.   Communications with ATC are frequent enough that it would limit how much I could actually operate.  The XM radio service that I have along with the XM weather is constantly interupted by chatter from the aircraft radios.  If I have passengers, I normally isolate myself on the audio panel so the passengers can listen to uninterrupted music.

Also is there much activity on 60 meters (which of course I have never operated)?

Instead of putting up something similiar to a G5RV and working a lot of bands, I had rather try to achieve monoband antenna performance on a few select bands utilizing my tower setup to full advantage.  The 2 or 6 meter antennas would be an obvious candidate at 180'.  The 10 and 17 meter bands were my favorites from before and the 40 or 60 meter bands would give me propagation during periods of low sunspot activity.  Any opinions on my band selections?

Another thing I may do is try to load the tower for 160 meters.  The thing I am going to have to stop and think about is that the tower is already over 1/4 wavelength for shunt feed arrangements.  I already have a rather extensive ground setup.  I followed the Polyphaser recommendations when I installed the tower.  I followed the single-point ground scheme with multiple buried ground rods fanned out in 4 directions, spaced at twice their length, connected with copper straps, and treated with chemicals for dissimilar metals.  The best I remember, I only put 3 ground rods spaced at twice their length at each of the guywire locations.

I would like to get a couple of questions answered here regarding the current activity on the bands and move my questions to the Remote HF Station Control Forum.

For the purpose of working my way up to the full blown remote control station, I have successfully used a Tigertronics SignaLink USB as an interface between my laptop and a GMRS radio connected to a dummy load to communicate within my office over the internet with my Motorola Droid cellphone running Skype.  Passing the audio back and forth was no problem, but I realize I will have to write the software if I want to perform rig control with the Droid.

Thank you for the links to sources of information regarding internet linking and remote control.  As I have time, I am reading everything I can find.


The tower is located behind my father's house next to a 50'x75' metal shop building which was a farm shop before he retired.  My repeater equipment was located just inside the wall of the shop and that is where I will put the amateur equipment.  In other words, electricity and housing for the radio and computer equipment are already provided for.  I have an ethernet cable running into the shop from the tower with a static IP address so I won't have to deal with NAT issues for the rig control software.  I also already have a spare desktop computer to dedicate to this project and about 150' of extra 7/8" Heliax (besides the 7/8" Heliax that is now running to the VHF folded dipole arrray that I will reuse for the 2 or 6 meter antenna) to run up the tower to a remote HF antenna switch.


Operating full remote control, remote base from my tower excites me enough to get me interested in tackling this project.  Otherwise, I would probably not even go to the trouble to retest.  I have so many of the ingredients already, it is almost a shame for me not to do it (or at least that is what I will tell my wife ).

Thanks, your reply was the type information I needed to justify the extra expense of the Icom 7000.  I will also check into it further.

I calculated the wind surface area of the Hy-Gain DB-1217 and an 8-element horizontal yagi for 2 at the top of 6' of mast to be about 8 square feet which is well within the Rohn guidelines for my tower.  Of course, you also have to factor in the rotor, the 7/8" Heliax, and the internet antennas for total windload.  Being conservative is the reason I am only going to put one or the other above the DB-1217, 8-element 2 meter at 6' above the DB-1217 or 3-element 6 meter at 10' above the DB-1217.  From an electical standpoint, I am also concerned about the 6 meter antenna interacting with the 17 meter elements of the DB-1217 since 6 meters is about 3/4 wavelength of 17 meters.


The tower is about 2.5 miles from my home.  I can see the tower from my home, it is line-of-sight if that is what you are asking.


For DX, the low angle of radiation for 10 and 17 should provide a significant advantage.

Taking the height factor to extremes though...Around 1997, I had the ADF receiver taken out of my Piper Archer, but instructed the avionics shop to leave the wire antenna which ran from the tail to a feedthrough above the cockpit.  I mounted the head of my Icom 706 on the plate in the instrument panel where the ADF receiver was and cut the former ADF wire for 1/4 wavelength for 17 meters.  I fed the wire through an MFJ mobile antenna tuner and worked 6 and 17 meter aeronautical mobile.  There was a significant signal gain during the first 200' of climbout, but no change in signal level after that to 10,000'!  I mainly attributed the signal gain during the first 200' to clearing ground clutter.

I also had an aircraft certified VHF business band antenna mounted on the Archer.  From 6,000' and higher, I could easily hit my repeater from 200 miles away.  I had both the Icom 706 and Motorola business band connected though the audio panel so I could key the microphone on the yoke and talk/listen through my aircraft headset.

Why can't I post an image?  I tried the different formats, but all that works is a hyperlink.

I have been inactive for several years but have recently caught the radio bug again.  The first thing I discovered was that my callsign has expired beyond the 2 year grace period so I will have to retest.

My home is located in a poor location for radio work but I have a 180' tower that I previously used for my VHF business repeater system (received a VHF repeater pair during the FCC Refarming Initiative).  The location of the tower is about 110' higher than the average terrain so it would be like having 300' of tower at my home location.  The tower is currently being used by a local internet provider as a relay point for which I receive free broadband internet at my home and at the tower location (static IPs).

http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss252/N1048D/Tower_640x480.jpg

I want to setup a station at the tower location to operate internet remote base from my home and from my Motorola Droid cellphone.  I have already ordered some of the components and need to decide what bands I am going to operate to know what antennas to install on the tower.  I will be removing the VHF folded dipole array from the top of the tower and I will ask the internet provider to lower two omni antennas down from the top about 5'.

The tower is Rohn 25G and I want to be conservative regarding windload.  I am considering mounting a HyGain DB-1217 configured for 10 and 17 meters at the neck of the tower and either a 2 or 6 meter horizontal yagi from 6' to 10' above the DB-1217 for the SSB portion of the band.  I am also thinking of mounting a 40 or 60 meter double bazooka in an inverted-v configuration at about 130'.

Is there much local ragchew activity on 2 and 6 meters (SSB) outside of band openings?

Which would you pick, 2 or 6 meters (SSB)?

Has anyone configured a DB-1217 for 10 and 17 instead of 12 and 17?

Any suggestions on remote controlled rotators and remote controlled HF antenna switches?

Anyone using their radio to automatically switch antennas when changing bands?

Yaesu FT-857D or Icom 7000 (Don't want this response to get out of control )?

Any other suggestions?