Below we have a picture of my main antenna system. It is a setup that many amateur stations would love to have but due to planning restrictions, etc, a lot of amateurs have to make do with verticals and wire dipoles and sometimes even only have antennas in the roof space. I think I'm very lucky to be able to have a good set up like this.

The mast is an Altron D444 which will extend to 44 feet but I usually leave it at 35 feet. It is a wind up/down mast and will tilt over. Very handy for doing antenna work at ground level.

On top is a cage which houses the Yaesu G450RC rotator and just at the topof the cage is a thrust bearing which takes all the weight of the antennas. The rotator just has to turn them.....

The large antenna is a 3 element tri-band yagi made by a firm called Jaybeam and is called a TB3. It is a directional beam and is tuned for the 20, 15 and 10 metre bands.

Next antenna up is a 16 element home brew '2BCX for the 2 metre band. It is named after the amateur who designed it. Fred Judd (G2BCX).It has a gain of about 16 db and works really well. It was fun to build as well.

On top of that is a 12 element yagi for 70cms, vertically polarised for FM.

You can just see the bottom of a Diamond V2000 which is at the top of the mast. This is a Vertical antenna for the 6m, 2m and 70 cms bands.

 

     6 Metre Yagi


I have recently taken down the 2m and 70cm antenna and replaced them with this 5 element 6 metre yagi. The main reasons for changing were to have a go on 6m and I didn't use the 2 and 70 antennas very much. I am more interested in HF than VHF/UHF and it made more sense. The tri band V2000 meets all my needs on 2/70.
The yagi performs really well and I've worked into North Africa with it and all round Europe. I've yet to get across the "pond" though.
Wire antennas
On the left of the yard arm you can make out the centre of my W3DZZ which is a trap dipole for 80m and 40m. One half of it is tied off to a tree in the field which is at the back of the garden. On the right of the yard arm is a long wire "inverted L" for 160m.