Base Station Antennas...

Hi Gents,

I simply don't know where to start, so I hope you can help me out a bit with your excellent guidance!?!  I’ve just passed my foundation, and I’ve been going through the band plan in order to see what antennas I can accommodate on my house/in my loft as my ideal starter…...I’ll save the garden until later….. I’m doing this even before I buy a shiny new radio!

I’ve worked out (before consulting my future wife I might add, so it all might fall on its feet!) that a series of directional arrays with a span of 2m x 1mcould be mounted onto an external motorised pole from the upper brickwork of the house…...we’re 100m ASL below the surrounding countryside on all sides. The mounting assembly/pole would be long enough (3m) so as to extend above the roofline, and would be suitable for 6m, 2m, 70cm, and 432-446 operation, which are the main bands I’d like to work initially.

That said, I would love to hear your thoughts/pitfalls/alternatives on my plans please?!

Simon.

The fun begins lol.
The first aerial i made was for 2m band and i used some copper brake pipe and a bit of roof batten and it worked quite well.
Second aerial was a 2m/70cm made this time out of welding rods.
put that one in plastic conduit and it also worked ok.
Can't get on our roof due to being disabled but it is a bungalow so not high anyway.
Just mounted mine on the side of the shed around 10ft high.
We are at around 60/70 ft asl but like i said they both worked.
Went on to make an eflw with a 49.1 unun and 10m of wire foe the hf bands had some good contacts with that and still use a eflw but a longer one with a 80m choke in it.
All good fun and brings a big smile when they work.
Edit  
I forgot to say that i use a tuner with the long wire but not needed on all hf bands.

Hi Simon. The bands you would like to work initially I do not have great experience of.. as you know from another thread on here I picked up a uv5r at a similar time to you for 2m to 70cm and haven't expanded on vhf/uhf ops yet.

The main areas I have worked have been 20m to 10m, and more recently some 40m. If you want thoughts on antennas for those areas I'll chime in, otherwise I'll do my best not to go off at a tangent and let others guide you with their experience Just want to mention though that if you are thinking of putting any sort of antennas in your loft then you can get away with very weakly and cheap constructed arrays as out of the wind, so any spare cash you have I would invest in the best feeder you can. Before joining here and before purchasing a 10/11m transceiver to get back in this hobby, the first thing I did was buy the best coax I could to run from my bedroom to the loft, even though at the time it was only feeding a receiver. The quality and relatively short length means it can be used for transmitting now if I choose up to 70cm without incurring huge losses.

Hi Simon,

As Alan has already mentioned, now you've got your ticket all the 'fun of the fair' will be happening!

You'll be scrabbling to use as much of that spectrum as you possibly can which can be damn expensive if purchasing antennas and take a lot of your free time if building them as well as setting them up. Things will definitely not got to plan either, no matter how well you plan them.

I know a lot of people stick up the proverbial 'big white stick' for VHF/UHF work and just be happy with their lot with some suitable coax thrown in for effect. If it works for them then why not.

For myself I couldn't justify a massively long, waving in the wind, white pole hanging precariously from the chimney. I also couldn't see the point of unusually long runs of expensive coax to feed them either. So in my instance I had great fun building and testing typical homebrew antennas and surprisingly ordinary RG11 coax available from anywhere works just as well. (Much cheaper too!)

This got me into the typical local repeaters with some fairly good simplex action too but my local geography left me eluded to transmissions in certain directions. Extensive research and even coverage modelling software was utilised giving me much hope and even though I later went on to build Yagi-Uda beams for increased gain the local geography still had me blocked. I just can't fire VHF/UHF past the 'big' mounds that surround me leaving me looking for gaps in the hill sides which up to now I've used quite well. (To talk to a Ham friend of mine just 20 odd miles to my West I had to fire South across two counties to a repeater that he could pick up in his county!! Was fun though.  )

But the best fun I've had on VHF is when there's a propagation lift on where an ordinary antenna is much better to fire 100+ miles across the country.  

I like VHF/UHF though as it's far more challenging but with HF you can stick up a long bit of wire, (or more), and literally work the world. But I still can't talk to my mate 20 miles away on HF despite being able to DX much further!!


Have fun with it all Simon, the successes and even the failures are all part of the road we travel in enjoying life and radio is no exception.

Plus there's usually someone here at Charlie Tango that can either offer assistance or even congratulate you on those successes.

All the best,
Victor

Bang for buck 7 band cobweb with a dual band vert on top for uhf/vhf

I would get down to the local hardware store, but some wire, thick cable ties and make yourself a 1/2 size G5RV. Get enough wire for the elements an ladder line. Usr the thick cable ties as the ladder line spacers. Make the holes with a soldering iron. I made one when I first got here from the UK, took a couple of hours, and I was off!. Cost will be real cheap. Then you can think about what you want in the future.

Thanks for all your responses chaps! I REALLY like the idea of making my own antennas, as I can only begin to imagine the pleasure of making contacts using something I've made myself!!  A quick question though.....does the foundation licence allow the use of home made antennas? The foundation wording refers to a 'transmitting station' using standard shop-bought equipment from memory, however I'm assuming this doesn't cover antennas?

Well if it is against the rules then i think many of us have broken them.
No i think it just applies to equipment building.

TheReverend wrote:

Thanks for all your responses chaps! I REALLY like the idea of making my own antennas, as I can only begin to imagine the pleasure of making contacts using something I've made myself!!  A quick question though.....does the foundation licence allow the use of home made antennas? The foundation wording refers to a 'transmitting station' using standard shop-bought equipment from memory, however I'm assuming this doesn't cover antennas?

Foundation is really talking about shop bought Transceivers, you can't modify them yourself, so ex-commercial, or scratch built is supposed to be what this means.

However, an antenna is merely a piece of wire, even if shop bought, who is to say you aren't capable of using a tape measure to cut wire to your own length, and buy shop bought connections for your wire?

No, build whatever antenna you like mate.

They indicated that soldering PL-259s is a test element for Intermediate Licensing, but practicing as a Foundation Licensee in soldering antenna feeds would appear to be self training for the next stage, where you're tested.

Amateur Radio is all about self testing.

A fair few Foundation Licensees might be professional radio or electronics engineers anyway, and feel 10 Watts is sufficient a challenge that they don't want to progress beyond that Licence.  Not because they would have any difficulty in talking either Intermediate or Full Licence Exams, but just because to them its not necessary for what they wish to do.

So consider building your own antenna as Self Training, and you can't really go wrong, particularly as CBers have been building their own antennas for decades, if not longer.

Personally 4W/12W for CB is what I'll be using, using a legal CB, even as a Full Licensed Radio Amateur with a 400W limit on Amateur Bands, I don't actually have a HF Radio capable of more than 100W anyway, although I do have a Valve Linear capable of about 700W, which again I've never used beyond 400W at a meter in the shack.

However, I've not performed a TX on any bandwidth since about 2011.

That will change though, I'm excited about the tower I have erected, and want to play.

You can make as many and as fancy antennas as you like even at Foundation level Simon.  

Really pleased that you look forward to the excitement of constructing your own antennas as well. I can personally attest to the fact that making contacts on any homebrew equipment including antennas is absolutely awesome!

Be careful of poor or incorrect advice that some may 'inadvertantly' give as you'll only kick yourself for not checking after.

For example you can shove a full 10 watts into the antenna with Foundation not just from the back of the radio so you can account for any losses incurred by coax/feed lines. Start using antennas with gain such as beams and that 10 watts can do far more than you realise often being the equivalent of a lot more power on an omnidirectional antenna.

10 watts and less can carry you around the world on HF frequencies especially with digital modes such as FT8 or even CW Morse. QRP operators often do it with far less power! (QRP operation is exciting for some including myself.) Never be afraid to explore other avenues and technologies too, DMR radio has given some exciting opportunities to many Hams nowadays as well.

You can also build as much test equipment, tuners, receivers and other homebrew projects as you like without restriction if you want to take things further. It's all up to you.  

The only thing frowned upon is making or modifying a transmitter..... 
(I did make a posting about IR2028 a while back digging through legalities much further than most and you'd be surprised what you'll find.  )


It'll probably take a lifetime to explore every avenue that radio can offer and I sincerely hope that it stays a lifetime passion for you. I believe it will from your excitement shown and willingness to explore self built avenues.

Enjoy yourself Simon, enjoy your spangly call sign and enjoy the Ham bands. Remember, an M7 means you are licensed and as much part of the community as anyone else plus I'm sure you will be welcomed by most.

All the best,
Victor

Nicely put there Wayne.  

Just saw your posting after putting mine up and love the words of encouragement to a new and fellow Radio Amateur.

....Plus your bit on those happy at 'Foundation'.