My first cheap antenna mast for j-pole

Ikarus1

Ikarus1

Avtomat Krishna-kov
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after I built my j-pole for 145.5Mhz, I needed something to put it up above the house with. Went to Lowe's and got two 10ft sections of galvanized chainlink fence top rail. Its stronger and thicker walled than conduit and designed for construction not just protecting wires...

314cfb6a5186b2cb62acc09c307d267d.jpg


Btw the antenna in the foreground is my Comet SB5 NMO that I got for free, mounted behind the cab on a custom bracket I made
 
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Good thinking.

I've got my 2m/70cm antenna mounted to an old satellite TV j bracket on the roof. Getting it up higher does help. For future reference there is a company in TX that makes mast poles, including fiberglass and telescoping aluminum ones.
 
Tagged for interest. I'm doing something similar with some 1.25" x 0.0938" x 8' tube welded together. I have enough to get the antenna up past the roof ridge, about 15ft, but I'd like to go another 10ft. I think I can pull it off with some some kind of self made soffit bracket for stability.
 
Brian K said:
Tagged for interest. I'm doing something similar with some 1.25" x 0.0938" x 8' tube welded together. I have enough to get the antenna up past the roof ridge, about 15ft, but I'd like to go another 10ft. I think I can pull it off with some some kind of self made soffit bracket for stability.
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I got a bracket set for masts off EBay for $25 shipped, so at this point I'm into whole thing for right around $125 including the j-pole materials, and 75ft of Surecall SC400 coax (similar to LMR400) also off EBay.
 
noway2 said:
Good thinking.

I've got my 2m/70cm antenna mounted to an old satellite TV j bracket on the roof. Getting it up higher does help. For future reference there is a company in TX that makes mast poles, including fiberglass and telescoping aluminum ones.
Click to expand...
all those telescoping wiggling jiggling masts that I saw at Shelby were expensive and flimsy. I have a 2 story home with a split level roof so I should be able to put this thing up to around 45ft AGL (around 585 ASL) with just 20ft of mast; at least half of it will be bracketed to the side of the house. Will clear the peak of my taller roof by at least 8ft, and I'm above most of the neighboring homes and have buried power lines so hopefully I will be able to get some good VHF performance
 
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Ikarus1 said:
I got a bracket set for masts off EBay for $25 shipped, so at this point I'm into whole thing for right around $125 including the j-pole materials, and 75ft of Surecall SC400 coax (similar to LMR400) also off EBay.
Click to expand...

Do you mind posting a link to the bracket you bought? Thanks!
 
Brian K said:
Do you mind posting a link to the bracket you bought? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Something else you can do and what I did with a tv antennae is put a piece of a phone pole in the ground, then raise your antennae on that. My tv antenna is about 25ft up and works awesome
 
Ikarus1 said:
after I built my j-pole for 145.5Mhz, I needed something to put it up above the house with. Went to Lowe's and got two 10ft sections of galvanized chainlink fence top rail. Its stronger and thicker walled than conduit and designed for construction not just protecting wires...

314cfb6a5186b2cb62acc09c307d267d.jpg


Btw the antenna in the foreground is my Comet SB5 NMO that I got for free, mounted behind the cab on a custom bracket I made
Click to expand...


Don't forget your dipstick. :confused:

What diameter is that chain link fence top rail? Thanks
 
I have the same mount - be sure to buy one long enough so that you don't run into the gutter. I think mine has an 18" standoff.
 
Cocked & Locked said:
Don't forget your dipstick. :confused:

What diameter is that chain link fence top rail? Thanks
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that's a dipstick from the Bronco II we scrapped this summer :)
My son wanted a momento lol

1.31 inch OD on the top rail. 17 ga steel

They're 10.5' long so a 21' mast

Also the poles are necked down at the end so they don't need any type of coupler. I'm going to drill a 3/8 in hole in the middle of that section and put a machine screw and locknut thru it when assembling.
 
so obviously I am not mounting this antenna this week ;)

I have begun to rethink the entire copper lightning rod in the sky just to reach repeaters than nobody talks on anyway....

Anyone have any luck with the PVC Ed Fong type antennas mounted on the rooftop?

I'm also thinking about just doing a 1/4 wave ground plane for 440
 
How do you like that Jetstream meter? It's in my wish list for eventually purchase.
 
Ikarus1 said:
I have begun to rethink the entire copper lightning rod in the sky just to reach repeaters than nobody talks on anyway....
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Put a polyphaser, mounted to a ground rod that's bonded to your service ground, in line with the antenna.
 
Just thought I would share a picture of my J-Pole antenna setup.
I finished setting it up about a week prior to Michael's visit.
I did not have any problems at all with it.
Steady as a rock!


IMG_2369.JPGfullsizeoutput_1142.jpeg
 
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