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[KD0VE]

Just getting into RV camping ham radio.  Got a 35' telescoping fiberglass mast and good base for same. For antenna options a couple different wire antennas plus a buddipole that can be a challenge to tune up.

Wondering about the advisability or potential problems of a small TV beam a couple of feet above the wires or buddipole.  wouldn't take much to be better than the roof mounted RV antenna.

Figured someone here has been there done that and would have some advice.

kd0zgw

[W6BP]

Are you suggesting using a TV antenna for HF? If so, that sounds like a non-starter.

However, I have had a similar thought for a different purpose. If you put a TV antenna on top of a mast on a house roof, then used, say, two of the longest guy wires for the two halves of an inverted V, that might be interesting. The TV antenna serves as a decoy: every homeowner has the right under the FCC's OTARD law to put up an external TV antenna. If you want to be a stickler about it, you could even run a coax from your flat screen up to the TV antenna.

IANAL, so anyone thinking of trying this might want to read the OTARD law first.

[WB6BYU]

You may find that the TV stops working when you
transmit.  Hopefully it recovers afterwards.

Especially if you are using a TV preamp to increase
the signal:  it may overload from the RF and simply
stop amplifying.

If the TV feedline runs down the mast and you are
using a vertical wire right beside it, that could cause
a lot of interactions.  In that case, I’d suggest adding
a switch to use the TV feedline as the vertical wire
when hamming, and switching it back to TV use when
you are done.

If you are using a dipole for 40m or 80m, then
there may be less interaction, and a high pass
filter in the TV feedline may be adequate.

[KD0VE]

thx for replies.  TV antenna would be for TV only.  Ham and TV would be a different times.  feedlines for ham and TV will run down the mast.

[HL1ZIX]

1.  Would be amazed if the mast could hold near that much weight.

2.  If you did manage to add both a TV antenna and a ham antenna, I think they might be too close and cause interaction / de-tuning on the ham side, at least.  Also you'd probably kill your TV if you transmitted so close to it with power on the Ham antenna.

[K0UA]

thx for replies.  TV antenna would be for TV only.  Ham and TV would be a different times.  feedlines for ham and TV will run down the mast.

I say give it a try. I predict none or very little interaction if the HF side is kept to 100 watts or less. Nothing beats experimentation.  Come back here and tell us how it went.