antenna as string of outdoor lights

[WX7G]

Reading the posts I see that WB6BYU already said to feed the wires together. Simple and effective.

[KB2FCV]

I like the idea of running / wrapping a separate wire in with them as your antenna to keep them separate. I think I would try to figure out a way to feed it at the center (run your coax out along a black extension cord). You can then occasionally light the light strings to keep any suspicion away. If someone sees you going through all the effort to put this thing up, they'll wonder why you never turn them on. In addition it will make some nice lighting when you're hanging out on the back porch/deck (we have christmas lights in our screened in porch..). I think this is a great idea and worth experimenting with.

I think though I'd be very curious to see what does happen when you put some RF through them!

[KF7ZFC]

I have choosen to wrap a third wire around the lights wiring. 75 feet of lights took about 85 feet of the #12 stranded insulated 600 volt wire. The antenna/lights are hung. This way I can turn the lights on and make my wife happy. I will end feed using my MFJ 993 B.

Later this week I will cut the 5 counterpoises for 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m. Can I bundle them toegther? Do I need counterpoises for 30m and 17m?

Thanks you everyone for your ideas

Steve
KC@ICL

[WX7G]

A 1/4 wavelength counterpoise per band will reduce the RF potential of the tuner case and reduce RF current into the house AC wiring.

I would not bundle the counterpoise wires as they will be detuned. A bit of spacing between each wire will be better.

A third wire is not needed. Simply connect the two AC prongs together and feed. When it's time to light the lamps disconnect the tuner and plug into AC power.

[KI4SDY]

A third wire is not needed. Simply connect the two AC prongs together and feed. When it's time to light the lamps disconnect the tuner and plug into AC power.

If you connect the two AC prongs together and feeding both with RF, aren't you "shorting" them?  

[KI4SDY]

I would not bundle the counterpoise wires as they will be detuned. A bit of spacing between each wire will be better.

The same thing will happen if you wrap a third wire around the light string to transmit on. Can you say "detune?" 

[N0MKC]

A third wire is not needed. Simply connect the two AC prongs together and feed. When it's time to light the lamps disconnect the tuner and plug into AC power.

Sounds like an interesting experiment; effectively, an end-fed twisted-pair wire antenna.  I'd expect that standard formulas for element length wouldn't apply, as there would be some slight capacitance between the two wires... I doubt the inductance imparted by the twist would be more than miniscule, though.  Then again, it might be slightly more broadbanded than a single wire of similar electrical length.

Here's a thought - make one up using neon bulbs in place of the incandescent ones; perhaps with practice, you could determine the state of tune by the light patterns on the antenna!

[WX7G]

The wires are fed together against ground and appear as simply a larger diameter wire. There is NO RF potential between the wires and so the capacitance does not matter.

[N0MKC]

The wires are fed together against ground and appear as simply a larger diameter wire. There is NO RF potential between the wires and so the capacitance does not matter.

I stand corrected; comes from thinking in CAT6 terms when dealing with twisted-pair wiring... [grin]

[K9MOV]

I feed my gutters of my house through a 4to1 balun and a 30ft counterpose. Low swr on tx, low noise on rx. It is about 6 to8db down from my 40mtr dipole and it makes a very nice SWL ant. I have worked all around the midwest with QRP ( K-1) so it is usable as a tx ant. No RFI problems with 100 watts.
Lane--k9mov