KH6JRM's Amateru Radio Blog
The Homebrew vertical "antenna farm" is doing well at the Laupahoehoe QTH. The most recent project is a nearly out of sight vertical helix that works well on 40 and 15 meters. I had a 10' piece of schedule 40 PVC pipe under the house which I pressed into service this week for an easy-up antenna. I wound 66' of number 22-gauge hook- up wire around the mast in a helix configuation and topped it off with an 18" stinger for some top loading. A 3' to 6' capacity hat would probably be more helpful in raising antenna efficiency, but I opted in favor of the single wire on top. I strung out eight 10' foot radials and attached the creation to some RG-6 I had on hand. I fed this into the Drake MN-4 ATU. The Drake handled the mismatch and the Swan 100 MX seemed happy with the arrangement. The bandwidth is quite narrow, but retuning is no problem. This antenna might be of interest to those of you bothered by nosey neighbors or for those ne