G5RV Jr mounted--almost all set

On the house (middle)--J-Pole for 2 meters on the left

G5RV Jr on the mast with balun and juntion box

I wanted to get my new antenna mounted and installed yesterday (23 April) so I could get on the air for Marconi Day.  Unfortunately, it rained and we decided to be safe.

Today, we go the antenna mounted on the house and ran the horizontal wires out to trees, The job went smoothly almost without issue.  The only problem was that the ladder line extended down farther than I expected. We measured, and it was 19+ft.  I went back and checked the specs, which say 16ft. I went to my 2 meter rig and raised a local ham with the same antenna, and he verified the 16ft. 

So, we took the antenna down, cut the ladder line down, desoldered the existing connection from ladder line to the SO-239, and soldered the shorter piece. Then we re-mounted the antenna and ran the horizontals out to trees in the back yard. We used ropes connected to the insulators to secure the antenna to the trees, and inserted 24" rubber bungees for strain relief.

By that time we were ready to call it a day.  For tomorrow:

1. mount the choke balun on then house
2. mount a waterproof juntion box next to the balun
3. connect the balun to the ladder line inside the junction box
4. connect coax to the balun, with a lightning arrestor  between them
5. ground the lightning arrestor to the ground rod
6. run the coax through the wall to the shack and connect to the HF rig
7. figure out what I need to do for station ground
8. get on the air!

J-Pole on the house, base station set up

The J-Pole antenna I built (see this post) is now mounted on the house to serve as my permanent antenna for 2 meters.  We sealed the coax connections with electrical tape and soldered the crosspiece with the SO-239 connector to each of the antenna elements to make a permanent electrical connection.  The RG-58 coax is connected to a lightning arrestor, and then to another piece of coax via a female-female adapter. Those connections are wrapped with electrical tape, and the coax goes through a hole in the singles and wall into the area above a drop ceiling in my basement, then down the wall and under my desk  to my new base station radio (Yaesu FT-1900R, with a 13.8V power supply). The lightning arrestor is connected to a 10ft ground rod, driven into the ground, via #12AWG wire.

It works great!

Next steps: finish studying for my general class license. pass the test, by an HF rig, put up a multiband dipole antenna, and expand my ham horizons.

J-Pole!

Most of the J-Pole

Antenna side of SO-239 soldered to the copper strapconnected to the long side of the J-Pole.

Note the screw connecting the body of the connector to the short side.

Socket side of SO-239 bolted to the short side of the J-Pole

With plans found here for a 2-meter j-pole my brother in law (the one with the skills) and I built this. We used the dimensions exactly as given except that the bottom extends about 5', rather then the 2' in the specs.

To test, we first took it outside, and supported it so it was vertical.  We connected a 9' length of RG58 coax to the SO-239 and to a meter, and the radio to the other coupling on the meter. On a simplex frequency on low power (1W), SWR was well under 1.2:1, so I tried a repeater about 12 miles away on high power (8W) . A member of my local club heard me and reported a good signal reception was strong but a little scratchy--I may need to fuss with that.

This was not at my house, so the next step is to find a place at my house where I can get a consistent signal and be heard consistently.

It's snowing now, so I'm on hold, but when it clears I will get to that.

Success! See this post  and this post for the process that go me here.

More on 2-meter antennae

mag antenna for top of car on the right, using baking sheet for ground plane, new ground plane antenna on the right, using just 12 gaugue wire and an SO-239 connector

Just for grins, I decided to go further with the attenna experiments.  I made another grond plane, using #12 AWG insulated wire, crimp-on ring connectors, and an SO-239 connector. Using the same dimensions as the one in this post but following +Martin Lorton more closely (e.g., no copper plate), I soldered the vertical and screwed the radials (via the ring connectors) to the SO-239.

I still get spotty reception, not much better (and sometimes worse) than the 15" antenna screwed on to the radio.  I borrowed an SWR/Power meter.  I need one more connector to test the mag, but I get  beter than 1:1.2 SWR on the groundplanes. The power meter shows I'm getting 1W and 5W on the low and medium settings, and 7+ on the high setting.

I also made contact yesterday using the mag antenna on the car through a repeater ~15 mi away from where I was.  That's the first time I had success with that antenna. I was getting what may have been reverse feed, so I'd like to check the SWR. I'll do that once I get the connector (need 2 days for Amazon Prime).

I may just have to live with the fact that my house is in a bad place, but I'd like to see if an alternate antenna will improve things. I may have to go to a J-Pole, mounted up high.

2 meter antenna

To celebrate my new licensed amateur status, I decided to build an antenna for my new radio.

The radio is dual band (2 meter/70cm), but I decided to start slowly and make an antenna for just the 144MHz (2 meter) band, since that's the one I'll be using most.  I found the specs here (part of a compendium) I used the rest of the compendium as well as other reference material, particularly this video by +Martin Lorton,

I enlisted the help of my brother-in-law, who has skills (see the generator house).  In the interest of using what we (he) had, we used a copper plate instead of aluminum, and 10-gauge wire instead of welding rods for the radials. There may be a galvanic action problem, but we'll see.

Materials:

1.       SO-239 chassis connector https://www.radioshack.com/products/so-239-coaxial-socket?variant=5717635205

2.       6” SO-239 to SMA female jumper http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00COKNKS8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01

3.       18’ coax with PL-259 connectors http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001JT0CGI?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01

4.       4-40 machine screws, washers, and lock nuts (4 ea)

5.       12 AWG wire (19 5/16” + loop,  4 x 20 3/16 +)

6.       Copper plate (~6” square)

7.       PVC pipe for stand

Process:

1. drilled a 5/8" hole and four small holes (for the 1/2" 4-40 machine screws) in the copper plate
2. attached the SO-239 to the plate with the machine screws
3. cut the wires to length (4x#10, 1x#12, 19")
4. bent the radials to 45 degrees, 4 inches from one end
5. soldered (instead of screwed) the radials to the copper plate
6. soldered the #12 wire to the center pin of the SO-239
7. connected the cables to the antenna, each other, and the radio
8. on the air (not yet...I need to hear activity in order to know what's up)

We found an old Archer 21-256 CB tuner (over 40 years old).  It claims to cover 2-175MHz. Just for drill, I cleaned it up and connected.  It showed my SWR was way off. I tried bending the radials up, and it got worse. I bent them down, not quite to vertical, and I got it to 1,2. I have no idea how accurate the device is or how effectively I used it, but I used it.

I have not raised anyone, with the antenna, but I had the same issue without it. This morning I heard 2 people on a local repeater and when they finished I asked if they could hear me. I had a nice conversation with one, so my radio transmits.  Now I just have to test the antenna.