Consider this.  You won't be jumping around between bands after the new wears off off of being mobile HF.  Depending on the time of day you ham and conditions you will likely settle down and stay on one band.  Something as simple as the single band hamstick antennas can work well if you get them tuned to your part of each band that you like. You need an antenna analyzer to really do a good job of tuning an antenna.

Keep looking at what other hams are using and ask them about how they like their antennas, what else would they like, and who seems to have a good mobile signal. 

Good Luck  Walter K5KNE

You can try it, but don't expect it to work like a dipole in the clear of close obstructions.  You know that the length for the frequency you are working will require you to have a gap in the gutter at the proper length.  If you have a composition roof there may also be a drip flashing that runs around the roof line.  It will be a problem for your gutter antenna if it does not have a gap at the same place the gutter does.

Consider how close the wiring in the house is to the gutter too - and it also may have a lot of noise on the wiring with will be picked up by the antenna.  Also consider that you may make interference on your TV or Stereo in the house by having the antenna so close.

Eventually you will come to the conclusion that the rain gutter is not a very good antenna and put up a conventional antenna like an inverted V or dipole using a tv mast or chimney for the support. I suggest that you find a way to start out with a reasonable antenna and improve it from there.  There is not much way you can improve on a gutter antenna.

Good Luck  Walter  K5KNE

I recommend you get an outside antenna.  Houses have a lot of wiring in the attic.  It is not practical to use an inside antenna except for very local repeaters.  The higher and clear of other objects the better.  That is why hams usually have outside antennas.

Good Luck.  Walter K5KNE

There are about 5 styles of leadership found in clubs.

The president brings with him a style that he has developed over the years.  Unfortunately, the most popular hams may not have any management skills or understand the importance of varying his or her style in making decisions.

Telling is a style that is much like a dictator uses.

Persuading is a style in which the leader "sells" his opinion to the group - not paying much attention to members ideas or wishes. He already has his mind made up.

Delegating is a better style which involves the ideas and suggestions of the group but the leader makes the final decisions.

Consulting is even better because there are different ideas from the group and they need to be considered seriously and hopefully a happy medium can be found.  The leader still explains and trys to reach a consensus - then he makes the decision.

Joining is where the leader just goes along with the crowd - good or bad and allows the decision to be made by the group - with him just being a memeber of the group.

WHEN TO USE DIFFERENT STYLES

Telling should be used on emminent danger decisions "everybody leave the building it is on fire".

Persuading can be used when the leader has strong case of what will work best and he seeks the group's approval.  This style is needed when the group is mostly new people who don't know what to do or do not have the skills needed to make a good decision.

Delegating has to be used to do the various jobs or projects in the club. The leader should use this when he has very good resource people whom he will trust to do a great job. Some are probably far more knowledgable about the problem than the leader.

Consulting should the preferred style of decision making most of the time.  All hams are of "equal rank" in a club - regardless of the temporary titles for the year. Sharing the problems and discussing them, getting the ideas of the group is the preferred style for me.

Joining is often used on decisions that really make little difference and is maybe a sign of a weak leader if he uses it a lot. When do we have the Club party, do we want to do field day, do we want to be in the parade, what are we going to have to eat?  Are questions that just joining in with the group and going along with what they like is a good style to use in these decisions.

So, a leader should vary his style of decision making to fit the question or problem.  No one style is best in every situation.  Does this help?

Walter  K5KNE
 

I recently re-did my 80' tower and used 9913 coax.  I have some N Connectors on it, but I doubt that it was the extra time and trouble it took to learn how to put them on right.

You probably will probably never know if you have made your station any better with N Connectors over PL-259s.

Just enjoy hamming without trying to get everything perfect.
 
Walter  K5KNE

See about getting the footing design from the manufacturer of the tower before getting an engineer to design you one.

They should have at least a couple of choices for the footing.

I would probably just put up the antenna.  Keeping it nested a lot of the time should not be a problem.

Good Luck   Walter  K5KNE - Texas professional engineer

That sure is expensive to provide engineering drawings from a tower manufacturer.  Im sure that they were made before the tower was even manufactured.  A copy of the design should be available to anyone who owns one of their towers - even second hand.

I'm glad to know that about Universal Towers.

Good Luck on the efforts to get the permit.   Walter K5KNE - professional engineer

It sounds like you are going to a lot of trouble to make that antenna work.  I don't care for ground mounted verticals. I used to have one and tried a lot of things to make it perform like I wanted it to. A ham friend once told me "verticals radiate equally pooly in all directions."

I don't know how much room you have or if you can get a pole up to get some height, but I would go with conventional inverted vees, G5RVs or even long wires and see if you like them.

You don't need high power to make a lot of contacts if you have good antennas. 100 watts is plenty.

Good Luck  Walter K5KNE



















I concluded that the radiation angle was so differnet than dipoles and other conventional antennas - I was the weak kid on the block. 

You say you plan to be capable of 1.5 KW!  Why? I use only 100 watts now and got rid of my linear. A good antenna is far more important than high power - you do have to hear them to talk to them. It is good that you are trying to improve the antenna and I encourage you to keep trying different things. Some of the suggestions above are good - escpecially trying to make a poor antenna work good with high power. You might even try a long wire up the hill and see how that works. I use inverted vees for 75 and 40 and a triband beam for 20, 15 and 10.

Good Luck.  Walter K5KNE 

You said that you wanted casual qsos. Have you tried 75 and 40 meters. I find that there are more ragchewers on those bands than on the upper bands that need a beam.

I find that most hams on 10, 15 and 20 just want a signal report - and want to move on to someone else - few are really talkers that will spend a while chatting. There are some exceptions - and those are the guys you are looking for.

A simple trap dipole or dipole with two sets of wires (two for each band) works quite well and there are usually some people on there who like to talk. There are a lot of groups that talk regularly, and most welcome new folks to the group. If you like to ham early in the morning, during the day or at night you will find someone to talk to on 75 and 40.

I like 2 meter direct contacts on 146.52. It is quite different than repeater contacts. With a good beam and a little height you will find others who are on there and most are talkative.

I have heard some good things about the stepper - so it may just need a little maintenance to get it operating right. They have more things that can go wrong than most beams - so a simple bad connection can make it not work right.

Good Luck   Walter K5KNE

Look at "Dipole and Inverted V Antenna Basics" on Youtube. It has a good explanation of dipole antennas.

Good Luck   K5KNE

A simple dipole would probably be more practical and be more efficient.  they can also be strung up or laid on things in different configurations.  You don't have to solder stuff to try it out.

Good Luck   K5KNE

I use Belden.  You may pay a little more for it, but considering you want it to perform and last for years - go first class.
 
Good Luck   Walter, K5KNE

You need to start out with something simple.  Try a dipole on one band and see if you like it.
You can change it to another band or put up another one on the second band later.

Those SWR numbers you quoted are not anywhere near where your antenna should be. No one has SWR that high unless they are trying to load a dead short or open line.

Look up "dipole antenna" on Youtube and look at the tutorials about making antennas.

Good Luck    K5KNE

I have used #12 house wire with insulation on it.  I have run it through trees and tied it off where ever I could.  If you get it off the ground it will work. I have used a hammer to throw a nylon line over limbs and pull the antenna wire up.  Just try something and then you can improve on it.

The SWR is mainly influenced by the length of the antenna and the frequency you are using compared to the resonant frequency of the antenna.  So if you get an antenna near perfect on 7200 mhz. and then operate within 100 khz of that frequency - it should be pretty good.
Getting an antenna to be 1:1 may not be as important as you think, but try to get it as low as possible on the frequency you like to operate most.

I am glad that you found the problem and are back in business.

Have Fun   K5KNE