How To Use Your Roof To String An Hf Antenna
The main thing to keep in mind is that the antenna should not be in close proximity of large metal.
How to use your roof to string an hf antenna. The hf bands and 2 meters. A simple technical look at an hf horizontal loop of. Need lots of room keep them away from metal objects like heaters and ducts wire antennas can be run near the peak of the roof inside the attic bent in odd shapes to match the space available. I operate hf and vhf mobile every day.
Compromise disguise antennas are no strangers to hams especially on hf. Most of the cost and complication of factory built multiband antennas comes from the need for impedance matching on each band. For your balcony you can hang one out the balcony and lay the other on the floor hang it as a vertical dipole if you can get it to the upper balcony or even string or snake it out on the floor of the room both legs. By john portune w6nbc.
Wire strung around your house at rain gutter height plus. A pair of tall trees can work well if they are spaced at a convenient distance. That ideally at least assuming low angle radiation is the goal a horizontal antenna needs to be really really high i e. Some novel loop disguise techniques.
Whatever you do do not put holes in your roof to attach your antenna. On the hf bands a bumper mounted homebrew antenna that costs about the same as the vhf antenna added the bonus of a fun day at the workbench. Quite versatile and compact to carry. In order to mount an antenna on your roof without damaging it you should attach the antenna to the gable the fascia or the chimney.
The classic rain gutter loop antenna is it any good. You can also buy non penetrating mounts that use weights rather than screws to hold them in place. On using a metal roof as an antenna the joints between panels are likely not soldered and are likely to form corroded diode junctions that generate. This may be your biggest design challenge to figure out where to string the antenna.
On vhf i use a roof rack mounted 5 8 λ commercial mobile antenna that retails for 14 95. My hf antenna is a bug catcher. This is something i keep neglecting to consider. If all else fails string a wire from your window to something outside and above the roof like a tree or a nearby house.
Instead i d invest that money in a remote auto atu that can be used with a wide range of future antennas. Twice as high as a vertical for the same band. A vertical hf antenna can get away with a height of only λ 4. It tunes up nice on 40m and 20m.
Attic antennas many types of antenna can be mounted in the attic if you don t have radiant barrier tech shield.