View Full Version : Just for fun
VE7NOT
04-02-2007, 06:04 AM
What antennas would you put up?
I grew up on 1/2 acres. BUT it was a side hill of a mountian. Thus one side of the property was 30 feet higher then the other.
Still as a teen I had a Shakespeare Bigstik (think this was a 1/2 wave 11m) and a 100' long wire for SWLing.
Using to fall asleep to 90m playing country http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
But if I lived there now a full wave loop on 160 and 80/40 would be a reality in a day. The cb/10/12/15m vertical would be a the same BUT I would add my 2m beam and my new homemagde uhf loop.
With only half an acre and a few fir trees if I had been a ham then I wold have had fun! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Not that I didn't. My Shakespeare was good for RXing 49MHz and I knew all the neighbours secrets from 49MHz phones. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif
BTW what is with SW stations? I heard Radio Havana Cuba on 6.000 tonight BUT they used to be on 9820?? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif
Yep, a full wave loop on 160 would easily fit on half an acre if you had supports at the corners Sim. Some guys shunt feed their towers on 160m too. I just put up a 3 element beam at 50 feet, but I'm planning a new tower installaltion with a larger beam (12 element Tennadyne Log) at 70 feet. I'll use the smaller tower to hang my wires. Ham radio's great fun!
Check out Glenn Hauser's DX Listening Digest for SW listings. It's not as fun as it used to be but there's still some interesting stuff to be found.
Link (http://www.worldofradio.com/)
W4HAY
04-02-2007, 12:33 PM
Quote[/b] ]Radio Havana Cuba on 6.000 tonight BUT they used to be on 9820??
Shifting to the Summer schedule?
1/2 acre? #That's not too much - about 150 x 150. #One acre would be better.
I'd put a 110 foot tower smack in the middle of it - that will ensure 100 to 110 foot spacing for the guys. #On the 110 footer would go a 3 high stack of tribanders (Force 12 C31XRs or Hygain TH7s) - one at about 108 feet, one at 72 feet, and one at 36 to 38 feet. #Each tribander could be independently rotated or and could have power split to them.
I'd add either a 2 element KLM or 3 element KLM on 40 meters on top - at about 115 to 118 feet.
Hanging from the tower would be wire for two delta loops on 80 meters. #The tower itself would be shunt fed to form a 1/4 wave vertical on 160 meters. #
Over towards one corner, I'd put a freestanding crank up to about 50 feet and put a single 5 or 7 element tribander on that tower (the multiplier tower). #I might hang one wire off of the crankup to serve as a delta loop on 40 meters for backup.
There is not enough room for beverages, so a second corner would be used for a K9AY receive loop system.
K9YLI
04-02-2007, 02:05 PM
If I had a half acre I would have to get rid of the other 29 and half.
mostly the trees and the 55 and 65 foot silos and 2 ,50 ft tv towers rohn 25
don't think i want to.
N4AUD
04-02-2007, 02:29 PM
1/2 an acre would be a loss for me as well. I've already got that 160 meter loop.
k4kyv
04-02-2007, 03:10 PM
My 160m radial system covers more than 1/2 acre.
WB2WIK
04-02-2007, 04:34 PM
I had one acre for several years and mostly hated having the extra property (high maintenance costs, especially for watering!) but it was very "sloped." The "high end" of my backyard was 90 feet higher than the street in front of the house. Of course, I installed all my antennas "up on the hill" way behind the house (about 200 feet away) and that did mean longer feedlines and such -- but they worked much better up there.
I now have only 1/4 acre but am actually happier with that, for the most part. Maintenance costs are close to $1000 a month lower, and I really don't need the extra space. I do have a freestanding 55' tower in the yard, and another tower on the roof, as well as several VHF-UHF verticals and HF wire antennas, and they all fit on the 1/4 acre just fine.
The sky is very high over my house, and I'm pretty sure it's as high as anywhere else.
WB2WIK/6
If I had a half acre I would cry.
(proud owner of 6.15 acres, 800ft ASL)
I think the better question would have been , " If you had half an acre, and a million dollars burning a hole in your pocket. . . ." A 6 element beam on a 100 foot tower will do a better job for you than a wire antenna on any amount of land, unless that wire antenna is also 100 feet in the air, and about a mile long !
W6AM used to have rhombics in all the cardinal directions of the compass, I've been told, but his tremendous scores were eclipsed by guys that came along later with such beams as I describe above.
73, Jim
Honestly if I had half an acre, I would put up as tall a tower as I could safely and legally do, with a 6 element beam as AG3Y suggested.
The original question also didn't specify what bands/modes.
VE7NOT
04-02-2007, 05:41 PM
Quote[/b] (AB2MH @ April 02 2007,09:39)]Honestly if I had half an acre, I would put up as tall a tower as I could safely and legally do, with a 6 element beam as AG3Y suggested.
The original question also didn't specify what bands/modes.
All bands all modes.
The 1/2 acre I grew up on was on a sidehill as mentioned so putting up a tower was something that I didn't think of right away.
Yes a tower would be ideal.
WB2WIK
04-02-2007, 05:48 PM
Quote[/b] (VE7NOT @ April 02 2007,10:41)]Quote[/b] (AB2MH @ April 02 2007,09:39)]Honestly if I had half an acre, I would put up as tall a tower as I could safely and legally do, with a 6 element beam as AG3Y suggested.
The original question also didn't specify what bands/modes.
All bands all modes.
The 1/2 acre I grew up on was on a sidehill as mentioned so putting up a tower was something that I didn't think of right away.
Yes a tower would be ideal.
You can easily and safely install a tower (or towers) on any slope you can walk on without falling over. I've installed towers on 30 degree slopes (very steep), no issues. One side of the foundation is just deeper/higher than the other side, that's all. Requires a pouring form for the part above ground.
WB2WIK/6
ve2nsm
04-02-2007, 05:57 PM
I had to google to know what an acre represents in normal values, and it gave me a headache! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acre)
So 1/2 acre is 2023 m².
What I'll have would depend on the size of the house/garden/pool, but I would surely have more than what I have now http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
VE7NOT
04-02-2007, 05:59 PM
Quote[/b] (ve2nsm @ April 02 2007,09:57)]I had to google to know what an acre represents in normal values, and it gave me a headache! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acre)
So 1/2 acre is 2023 m².
What I'll have would depend on the size of the house/garden/pool, but I would surely have more than what I have now http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
It must be an western canadian thing but on this side of the rockies we seem to do fine mixing american/metric measurements http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
ve2nsm
04-02-2007, 06:10 PM
Quote[/b] (VE7NOT @ April 02 2007,13:59)]Quote[/b] (ve2nsm @ April 02 2007,09:57)]I had to google to know what an acre represents in normal values, and it gave me a headache! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acre)
So 1/2 acre is 2023 m².
What I'll have would depend on the size of the house/garden/pool, but I would surely have more than what I have now http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
It must be an western canadian thing but on this side of the rockies we seem to do fine mixing american/metric measurements http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
I found there's some kind of "virtual" Canadian/USA border going north/south somewhere around Western Ontario and Manitoba... west of this line you're in the US http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
KI4LZK
04-02-2007, 06:22 PM
VE7NOT you better change your call sign! lol
ka0gkt
04-02-2007, 06:24 PM
Hmmm...21780 square feet. A lot depends upon the shape of the half-acre. If the land is square, that would be about 147'-7" on a side, 208'-8 1/2" diagonally.
How about a 130' tower on a base insulator guyed at the center of the property and 240 radials out to the property edge.
73 DE KAØGKT/7
--Steve
What if you had 1080 acres of land and you only used 7 for antennas and the rest as a game reserve?
DE K8PG Paul CW LIVES:)
ka0gkt
04-02-2007, 11:16 PM
Quote[/b] (k8pg @ April 02 2007,16:00)]What if you had 1080 acres of land and you only used 7 for antennas and the rest as a game reserve?
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # DE K8PG Paul # CW LIVES:)
I'd settle for 640 acres (1 section or a square mile). More than enough for a couple of rhombics and some receiving bevereges...one for each region, some good hunting habitat for Pheasant season.
73 DE KAØGKT/7
--Steve
Quote[/b] (AG3Y @ April 02 2007,09:34)]I think the better question would have been , " If you had half an acre, and a million dollars burning a hole in your pocket. . . ." A 6 element beam on a 100 foot tower will do a better job for you than a wire antenna on any amount of land, unless that wire antenna is also 100 feet in the air, and about a mile long !
W6AM used to have rhombics in all the cardinal directions of the compass, I've been told, but his tremendous scores were eclipsed by guys that came along later with such beams as I describe above.
73, Jim
Jim,
My station consists of 10M, 15M and 20M 6 element monobanders (only 4 on 40M) and I have been to W6AM's rhombic farm when he was alive and even operated my AM, tube powered Elmac AF-67 mobile station under the rhombics when AM was "IN".
My humble opinion is that those (now gone) rhombics on Palos Verdes peninsula would hear much better than my current station. This is anecdotal opinion not scientific evidence since there is no way to compare today.
73,
Terry
Terry, it sure would be interesting to know what part of the sunspot cycle you were in when you parked that AF-67 under the rhombics vs. what part of the sunspot cycle you were thinking of when you worked with your newer setup! If you are thinking of now, you must remember that we are at the very bottom of the current sunspot cycle, and that could make a tremendous difference!
My current antenna situation is abysmal, but some years ago I was using a rather modest 3 band cubical quad at about 50 feet above the ground, mounted on a 15 foot tower sticking up above the roof of our 21/2 story house. With that antenna, I was regularly able to conduct phone patches into Brazil South America on 15 meters. If signals weren't well over S-9 and entirely clear of noise and QRM, it was a "bad day". Now days, I can hardly hear SA and other DX locations, and although a good part of that is due to my current situation, another good part of how it was, was due to the favorable portion of the sunspot cycle we were in, then.
I guess the only way to know for sure would be to have a side-by-side comparison. But alas, that will never happen!
heavy sigh! 73, Jim
BTW, my first CW rig was a cathode keyed AF-67 with a homebrew Power Supply! I remember the rig well!
KG6QHK
04-03-2007, 03:24 AM
If I had 1/2 acre? I'd sit on it, build some equity, then buy the other half acre! I'd put up two towers; 1 70' crank-up with genpole, on which would reside my UHF/VHF beams, along with a 2 / 440 J-pole at the very top. The other would be another 70' crank-up and genpole, with a tri-bander, and the suspended section of a wire loop. (The tuning section would be under an eave, using two long copper pipes with marks along them for matching the loop to different frequency bands! My friend W6BBS has a setup like this one, wherever he wants to work, he just clips on to that point on the matching section coppers, and there ya go!)
KG6QHK
04-03-2007, 01:23 PM
Now, if I had 40 acres....(guitar strumming in the background...)
ab9lz
04-03-2007, 05:53 PM
Heading down to Charlotte tomorrow (spare me the 4 lander jokes please http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif ) to look at a few places with 2 to 5 and a half acres, all have lots of trees. After living in an urban area with a wire antenna and lots of noise, I'm looking forward to the possibility of a tower. I'll probably have to hide the thing under some Kudzu so it looks like another tree.
73 m.
n2cfj
04-03-2007, 07:43 PM
With the building trends in this area, a 1/2 acre lot would get a 6500+ sq ft house. along with the driveway and 3 car garage, pool, cabana etc. there is only enough room for a single tower without guy lines.
KG6QHK
04-03-2007, 08:25 PM
I guess what it would come down to is if the 1/2 or so acreage is in the city, or out in the sticks.
Personally, I would prefer something OUTSIDE the city, but close enough to utilities to still have H/S internet access. That being the case, then absolutely, I'd have a halfway decent antenna farm, with one tower dedicated to VHF / UHF, the other to HF, with one twist; the beam, whichever one I'd have, would not only rotate, but would also be on an actuator arm, and would change POLARITY as well! Easy to do, as there are plenty of old, unused C-band sattelite dishes in the area...