102" whip for rooftop 10 Meter vertical - HomeBrew Forum at eHam.net

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eHam.net Forum : HomeBrew : 102" whip for rooftop 10 Meter vertical

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102" whip for rooftop 10 Meter vertical	Reply
by KD8DBJ on July 24, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
My deed restrictions don't allow towers or roof-top TV antennas, but it doesn't say anything about roof-top radio antennas. I want to put up something for 10 meters and to be on the safe-side, I want to put up something as cheap as possible (in case I'm asked to take it down) and as low profile as possible (so nobody except the immedate neighbors see it). I'm leaning towards a vertical whip, but I'm not sure what to do about the groundplane/counterpoise. I have a 102" stainless steel antenna from Radio Shack that I want to use for the antenna. Here's where I was planning to put it up: http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y126/von_landstuhl/roof.jpg What's the smallest groundplane/counterpoise design I can do and still have this work? Can I use a few radials that slope down and away from the house? Can I use another whip pointing down to make a vertical dipole or will the aluminum siding interfere with the antenna? Thanks, Joe KD8DBJ

RE: 102" whip for rooftop 10 Meter vertical	Reply
by K5LXP on July 24, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
Just run a couple of quarter wave wires along the eaves, I'm sure that would be more than enough to allow a decent match to coax. The only question then remains is what to do with it, as 10M openings aren't that frequent nowadays. But you won't have much time, money or materials invested, so it will be a start. Mark K5LXP Albuquerque, NM

RE: 102" whip for rooftop 10 Meter vertical	Reply
by WB2WIK on July 25, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
Of all the HF bands to use, I'd pick a different one -- unless you have a local 10m net you want to use or something (or maybe a local 10m FM repeater). 10m has been very rarely open, and there's virtually no activity on the band most of the time. A better pick would be 17m, 20m or 40m. For those, a stealth wire antenna (invisible dipole or loop, etc) would work much better than the 102" whip. WB2WIK/6

RE: 102" whip for rooftop 10 Meter vertical	Reply
by KD8DBJ on July 25, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
I just started collecting FM military radios and don't have an HF rig yet. Here's my shack: http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y126/von_landstuhl/shack.jpg The bottom one, called an RT-524, will do 29.6 Mhz. I know band openings fluctuate, but I'm willing to live with that. I'm more interested in getting something up so I can talk to other local green radio collectors. Thanks, Joe KD8DBJ

RE: 102" whip for rooftop 10 Meter vertical	Reply
by WB6BYU on July 25, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
Laying two to 4 wire radials on the roof should work fine. If the antenna is at the edge of the roof you can run one wire each direction under the eaves, or drop a single wire straight down to make a dipole. It probably is easiest to trim the length of the radials to lower the SWR rather than grinding down the top of the whip - I expect they will end up closer to 7 feet than 9 feet.

RE: 102" whip for rooftop 10 Meter vertical	Reply
by KF6PQT on July 25, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
That'll work... I'd just move it back a bit from the edge to make it more "stealth!" 29.6, FM, correct? (then he'll need vertical polarization) I've been wanting to play around with 10m fm too... Having a toy "machine shop" in the garage, I plan on boring a 1/4" hole down a 3/8x24 bolt, and shoving in a piece of 1/4" round steel, and welding it together... cutting it off at 100" or so to fab a clone of your fancy $20 whip for about $3. ;) Yours is tempered stainless, so it would survive mobile use a lot better. I highly reccommend getting an mfj swr analyzer, HF ones can be had cheap on ebay... spring for the VHF-capable one if you plan to build VHF antennas. Makes you antenna-pruning a snap! Do you have a balcony you could place it on? Then, by the letter of the law, you wouldnt be putting up a roof antenna! Good luck, green radios rock, I'm trying to start a ccollection of my own! Later, Jason kf6pqt

RE: 102" whip for rooftop 10 Meter vertical	Reply
by KD8DBJ on July 25, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
Yes, FM on 29.6 Mhz (or Mcs, as the radio says).

RE: 102" whip for rooftop 10 Meter vertical	Reply
by N1XBP on July 27, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
If it were me I'd move the vertical to the center of the roofline and run 4 radials, one towards each corner.. probably something like magnet wire for stealthy-ness. From the angle it looks as if it might be practically invisible there.

RE: 102" whip for rooftop 10 Meter vertical	Reply
by KC8VWM on August 3, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
Fistly, you are permitted to intsall and maintain a rooftop TV antenna despite what the CC&R restrictions say. http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html The rule prohibits restrictions that impair a person's ability to install, maintain, or use an antenna covered by the rule. The rule applies to state or local laws or regulations, including zoning, land-use or building regulations, private covenants, homeowners' association rules, condominium or cooperative association restrictions, lease restrictions, or similar restrictions Secondly, I suspect an inverted V guy wire system (cut precisely for 10 meters) would be a very good support for a TV antenna. After all, you want to make sure your TV antenna meets all safety concerns including the idea of a ground wire and guy wire attachment. 73

RE: 102" whip for rooftop 10 Meter vertical	Reply
by WY5Y on August 11, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
You might consider A 19" 2mtr whip. That would be very hard for any one to spot on your roof, and in keeping with your License class.

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