White Tiger's Antenna Raising (part deux)

[White Tiger]

Well, it's been a busy day around the homestead...what with passing my General class exam (when should I stop bragging?) - and I decided to make a second attempt at setting up my fan dipole...Thankfully my son helped me, couldn't have done it without him!

Must stress that this was a test run to see if my vision for placement - would be where I - or rather, the Frau would let me - keep it!

It's only up about 32' for the test - after this dry run I believe aI should have guyed it one more 4' section up - in order to get to 40' I would need to guy it twice.

(Sorry for the multiple posts - for some reason the mobile app wouldn't let me put all 3 pictures in a single post?)

[White Tiger]

Here's an earlier shot:

[White Tiger]

Fan Dipole attachment - I can raise/lower it like a flag - if I choose.

[KC9TNH]

Nice work (and what a blessing not to be living under triple canopy backyard). :)

FYI from your other posts, the 4' MILSURP fiberglas poles (lots of 'em on the market now) were probably originally part of a set that had spreaders to attach to the end for the purpose of holding up camoflage netting. They aren't nearly as robust as the MILSURP aluminum version of same.

If you want your full 40' height you might consider this:
Guy every 10', bringing the first 2 down to a common tie-down, then bring the 30 & 40' guys down to a common point. This keeps your antenna wire from being much of a load-bearing item, and keeps the inertia factor on any given pole section much reduced.

If you want to get a pic of what this looks like, Channel Master has been doing this for a day or two and you can look at their thoughts in their telescoping mast doc here:

https://www.channelmaster.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/1820_1830_1840_1850-Manual_3APR12.pdf

[White Tiger]

Nice work (and what a blessing not to be living under triple canopy backyard). :)

FYI from your other posts, the 4' MILSURP fiberglas poles (lots of 'em on the market now) were probably originally part of a set that had spreaders to attach to the end for the purpose of holding up camoflage netting. They aren't nearly as robust as the MILSURP aluminum version of same.

If you want your full 40' height you might consider this:
Guy every 10', bringing the first 2 down to a common tie-down, then bring the 30 & 40' guys down to a common point. This keeps your antenna wire from being much of a load-bearing item, and keeps the inertia factor on any given pole section much reduced.

If you want to get a pic of what this looks like, Channel Master has been doing this for a day or two and you can look at their thoughts in their telescoping mast doc here:

https://www.channelmaster.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/1820_1830_1840_1850-Manual_3APR12.pdf

Thanks KC9TNH! I was looking for some information this AM (as the pictures illustrated, sunlight ran out on me last night)! I will be attaching the fan dipole, setting up the ground system and running it through the antenna analyzer today...after church.

I saw the aluminum poles - but to be honest, I thought it might contribute to attenuation...seems like any large surface area of metal is going to love all that spare electricity in the air...? Plus - when I bought them I was still trying to hold my budget as close to the original $500 (including transceiver & power supply)...as possible!

My son was not a believer that this would work while we doing it. I just told him "trust me, if it doesn't work, down she comes"! I thought it was pretty cool when we were finished though (as a matter of fact, here I sit with my 1st cup of joe of the day admiring it while letting the dogs out...)

After we set all the guys - I tensioned the back side a little more - addinf some camber to compensate for the extra load of running the fan dipole to the top of the mast

I will remember the configuration issues and the suggestions - because I will be taking it down and reconfiguring it for NVIS....which should drop the mast requirements down to below 20 feet...

For now though - I'm pretty impressed!

Stay tuned, as I'm pretty sure some yahoo will be posting more pictures later on today...

[KC9TNH]

I will remember the configuration issues and the suggestions - because I will be taking it down and reconfiguring it for NVIS....which should drop the mast requirements down to below 20 feet...

Not to worry, military masts for field wire antennas have been functioning out of aluminum for a long time. Interaction is probably more likely from your chain-link fence... ;)  Sometimes this can be a neat thing for getting the heck out of RFI-unfriendly suburbia.

If I could make a suggestion...
I wouldn't drop it down to 20' just to get some NVIS capability. That comes from the type of radiated field projected because of the band you're using RELATIVE TO the height-above-ground of your antenna in terms of wavelengths of that band. To put in perspective, e.g., a 30-ft height, something that is attainable my most residential operators:

- At 30' you're about a half-wavelength high for 20m (and more for 17 & 15); some good distance capability is on your way.
- You're about a 1/4 wavelength for 40m - you're not getting 1,000's of miles on your first hop, but it's a good regional band that plays well MOST of the day, depending upon grayline stuff. But you're not getting those low-angle power launch-points like you will with 20m. Your best energy (1st hop) is probably in the 3-600 mile range; in fact, you might get good results VERY local to you simply from ground-wave.
- You're at about 1/8 wavelength for 75m (voice portion of what's typically called 80m).  Same antenna, the field looks like a rising bran muffin, your best energy is headed almost straight up, to come back down in that nice 200-300m radius you want for NVIS.

So you can get all that leaving your typical wire antenna up there. What you get is based on what BAND you use, ergo, how high your wire is IN RELATION TO THAT BAND. When you change bands you are effectively changing the height of your wire in terms of what the RF cares about.
Clear as mud?
:D

[White Tiger]

Ahhh...


Getting there...

[gil]

Good morning gang,

I agree on that too, 30ft is perfect in that case...

Gil.

[WA4STO]

Well, it's been a busy day around the homestead...what with passing my General class exam (when should I stop bragging?)

STOP bragging?  Nah.  You've good reason to brag away; we're all chucklin' right along with ya, dude!

The past few daze  have been super duper on the digital modes:



73 de WA4STO
QSLs via eqsl and LOTW

[White Tiger]

Wow - you've been busy workin' the world!

[White Tiger]

Nice work (and what a blessing not to be living under triple canopy backyard). :)

FYI from your other posts, the 4' MILSURP fiberglas poles (lots of 'em on the market now) were probably originally part of a set that had spreaders to attach to the end for the purpose of holding up camoflage netting. They aren't nearly as robust as the MILSURP aluminum version of same.

If you want your full 40' height you might consider this:
Guy every 10', bringing the first 2 down to a common tie-down, then bring the 30 & 40' guys down to a common point. This keeps your antenna wire from being much of a load-bearing item, and keeps the inertia factor on any given pole section much reduced.

If you want to get a pic of what this looks like, Channel Master has been doing this for a day or two and you can look at their thoughts in their telescoping mast doc here:

https://www.channelmaster.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/1820_1830_1840_1850-Manual_3APR12.pdf

I will be traveling this week, but I plan to give the old antenna raising another try next weekend ("Part Troi?").

I saw the link to the Channel Master instructions you included - thank you! It is perfect for what I want to do!

Aren't there some self tensioning combo guy "thingys" (not sure what you would call them)?

If anyone knows, I'd sure like someone to post a link! I would like to guy every 12' (poles are 4') and tie off on two separate guys...

[RadioRay]

When you are ready to TEST your antenna with some of the swarthy crew here, let us know.  I'd be happy to make contact from Virginia.



>RadioRay ..._ ._

[White Tiger]

Thanks Ray, that would be awesome!

[White Tiger]

When you are ready to TEST your antenna with some of the swarthy crew here, let us know.  I'd be happy to make contact from Virginia.



>RadioRay ..._ ._

Ok, I think Im ready to test!

[gil]

And maybe we can try again, see if the change made any difference..
NVIS 40m...

Gil.