L
Lawless
Guest
I am one of those people who seem to lock onto a topic, read about it and experiment with it for weeks sometimes before I feel I understand it as well as my level of brain capacity will allow. Radio has been like this and as such a broad and expansive subject, I find myself simply buried in reading. I have to pace myself and separate subjects to keep from overloading my CPU LOL
Antennas, grounding and propagation going hand in hand in hand is my subject of obsession right now. My G5RV is a place holder and has gotten me on the air, but I know it's a compromise. I also know i have a simple but not ideal installation of my coax, antenna and the way it is connected to the radio.
I keep coming back to the Windom antenna and feel it is probably the best solution for me. It should remove any common mode RF from my feedline with its 4:1 balun and reduce the job the tuner has to do. I also need to address my grounding and make a better overall grounding system. An excellent place to read about the Windom Antenna is here :
http://www.packetradio.com/windom.htm
The Plan:
I have come to understand that HF ham is a journey with no end in sight LOL. It is a hobby, like guns and shooting, that rewards practice and doing things right. I again want to thank htperry , Howard you have no idea how much you helped me. I transitioned from a outlaw CBer with a passing interest into a licensed Amateur Radio Operator obsessed like a crazy man. Thanks for giving me another bottomless hole to throw money into and for many late nights reading about this shiz.
Antennas, grounding and propagation going hand in hand in hand is my subject of obsession right now. My G5RV is a place holder and has gotten me on the air, but I know it's a compromise. I also know i have a simple but not ideal installation of my coax, antenna and the way it is connected to the radio.
I keep coming back to the Windom antenna and feel it is probably the best solution for me. It should remove any common mode RF from my feedline with its 4:1 balun and reduce the job the tuner has to do. I also need to address my grounding and make a better overall grounding system. An excellent place to read about the Windom Antenna is here :
http://www.packetradio.com/windom.htm
The Plan:
- I am going to use a PL259/SO239 bulkhead connector and some stainless to make a ground for my coax shield where it comes into the shack and/or install a lightning arrestor (depends on the design or the aresstor). This will require a jumper of LMR400 or RG213 to go from the ground assembly into the shack. I plan to build or buy a box to house it to minimize weather on the connections. The ground rod will also need to be connected to the service ground in my shack to remove any voltage potential due to failure. This will be a work in progress I am sure but I understand the basics and will get it done in a quality manner, if I update it later it will be to use nicer stuff.
- I am going to buy a genuine BuxxCom Windom antenna with 4:1 balun and get the G5RV down. I plan to also ground the coax at the antenna. I will take the G5RV and disassemble it to use some of the components to build a NVIS antenna for the CFF NVIS Preparedness Network (no really we are planning a group, see the other post on it ).
- Build a ground bar for in the shack to eliminate daisy chaining the chassis grounds.
- Antenna- https://packetradio.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=49&products_id=2704
- Jumper- https://packetradio.com/catalog/ind...ucts_id=1314:c2deaa0744d98316929f3c74f4125e8b
I have come to understand that HF ham is a journey with no end in sight LOL. It is a hobby, like guns and shooting, that rewards practice and doing things right. I again want to thank htperry , Howard you have no idea how much you helped me. I transitioned from a outlaw CBer with a passing interest into a licensed Amateur Radio Operator obsessed like a crazy man. Thanks for giving me another bottomless hole to throw money into and for many late nights reading about this shiz.