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W4GKR's Ham Station(s) - Thirty years of interesting antenna times!
Thanks for the visit my Amateur Radio site. The thinking on the material for this folder is to document the antenna used and/or status of the various antenna systems that have been, are being, or will be in operation on three QTH's. ie; The Berlin QTH, RV, and the new Lake Livingston QTH. THE 30 FOOT 5TH WHEEL AND 2500 GMC TRUCK The GMC can look like a porcupine going down the road when fully loaded out with all antennas UP. I have the usual "Thru the glass" antennas for the cell phone and the 2 meter/70 centimeter radio. I have a 1000 pound receiver hitch on the front. The usual applications of backing a trailer into a tight spot, putting a boat into or out of the water, or for a HF whip when on the road at sixty MPH! I have a set of Ham sticks for use on the truck and/or RV. The standard location for most large vertical moble antenna is off the back bumper. Well that work very nice when we had the pull-behind standard Nomad travel trailer. Well when we went to the 5th wheel rig, one can not have anything back of the cab any higher than the truck box. So another location was required. I do a lot of fishing, and usually have a canoe on top of the truck. Thus have a "bar" boat rack across and on top of the truck cab. So one of the first places for an antenna. Bigger and Higher is better. So I have a quick disconnent for the Ham Stick on the passinger side of the bar. The base of the antenna is grounded to the truck via a wide flex copper strap. Works very well on the higher HF bands with the IC-706 rig. Have you heard the saying "If the antenna is still up it must not be big enough and/or high enough. Well with a Ham Stick above the roof on the boat rack, it meets these requirements! It does not stay up well when going thru the numerous tunnels on the Blue Ridge parkway either. Which, by the way, Brevard - Ashville, North Carolina is beautiful. We worked for the Forest Service in the Pisque National Forest for several months a few years ago. A bunch of photo's and stories are planned on this area. I also have a 1/2 inch aluminum plate bolted to the bottom of the left front bumper. Remember with the 5th wheel rig, nothing above box level behind the cab rule. Well, that turns out to be a nice place to locate my Screw Driver HF Antenna. I again grounded the plate and antenna to the truck frame. Just to be safe, as one day I did not have anything to do, I installed 1/4 wave ground wires for 10-12-15-18-20 meter under the truck. Some go under and across the front bumper. Some go straight back and across the rear bumper. What ever place or way I could wire tie the ground wire safely to the under side of the truck. The front receive hitch and side aluminum plate are tied together in this ground plane "mess" of wire. I do not know if these help, but the antenna play very nice. It sure did not hurt the signals any. I will include some photos as soon as I can. THE RV ANTENNA STORY If one is traveling full time in an RV, the most important tool for your antenna installation, is the trusty sling shot and fishing reel. I made a "L" shape bracket out of 3/8 inch aluminum flat stock and hose clamp (and covered in tape) to the handle of a Wally World hunting sling shot. I then hose clamped a close face spin reel to the front aluminum flat stock. Now with my round lead fishing sinker (about the size of a large marble), it will easily put a line over a 70 plus foot tree. Crank over a heavy 100# cord. Now you are in a position to pull up any kind of wire or antenna in your arsenal. I have run up to 126 foot vertical wire for 80 and 160 meters. I have pulled vertical antenna up in the trees. As I have 2m/70cm antenna, Hygain 14AVQ, Ham Sticks, Cushcraft R7, dipoles, phase verticals for 40 meters. You are only limited by your imagiation. Do not get all hung up on the information in the various antenna books. Try it, if it does cut it, try something else. Most of my STUFF worked, just that some worked better than others. I also run a Screw Driver antenna on the back bumper of the RV. I also have a couple of Quick disconnects on the back ladder and the luggage rack on top of the RV. So if there are no trees, as we had last winter in New Mexico, one can use the verticals. But, if one has a 30+ RV, the roof is a wonderful place for a 10 thru 20 meter dipoles. I am thinking about trying a horizontal quad element next on the roof. Could be a good quiet (qrn) receiving antenna at the least. I will attemp to detail out some of phased verticals, delta loops, quad loops, multi-band dipoles that I have and do use in later additions. THE BERLIN ANTENNA STORY The Berlin QTH is simular to the trials and test that one has when in an RV traeling around the country! Our little flat is on the top floor (which is not an accident) of our four story building. As we looked for some time for that special place in the country. What I settled for was was a top floor, four stories up, and over looking a park full of trees. OH! you devious thinking people! So on the next trip over from the states I have a second sling shot/fishing reel rig in the bag. One is not to do any harm to the trees over here (they take their trees serious) over in Germany, speically in Berlin. As only sixty years ago there was not a tree standing as the people had to cut every one to prevent freezing to death after the "boys" level the city. Which, as a side issue, the little girl lived through those times and her stories bring chills. Maybe we can get a few documented in her folder! So as I was not doing anything between midnight and five in the morning, I shot a few lines over some trees. I now have a sixty six foot long wire over top of some fifty foot trees in the park running south. I also have a sixty six foot "ground" wire on the other end running around our twelve foot balcony and flower pots. Don't laught, it works well! I also have a 2m/70cm vertical bolted to the metal flower pots along the front of the balcony. I installed a short trap 10-15-20 meter dipole along the top over hang concrete and down the sides of the balcony. I have worked West to the states and which ever way to ZL and VK land on CW. With the heavy QRN (ie; S meter usually sets on S 7) I have not had much luck on SSB. I have worked a few on 40 meters SSB on the "long wire" as it plays pretty well on the low bands. FUTURE ANTENNA STORIES I plan in future issues to detail out the stories with the Wilmington North Carolina QTH. Lots of lost antennas and huricane stories. I also plan to present and show photos of our Nov/Dec 2001 installation of the tower and antennas at Uli's (DK2OC) new Gran Canaria EA8 QTH. It was interesting putting a crank up tower on the second floor patio! I have some interesting photos, a number of which I have used for my EA8 QSL cards. As I used one digital foto per printed page of four QSL cards. If one worked me and sent for a card, then there are only three other QSL cards of the same design in the world! It was a fun project. I plan to have a rotating foto show over the future. |
