Well, the not so good news is that I'm going to have to miss Hamvention this year. The reason is, and this is the good news, is that it looks like we're going to be buying a new QTH at the end of June -- our offer was accepted yesterday, so now the fun begins (those of you who haven't bought a new home in the last few years have NO idea how much "fun" the paperwork is now... "let the games begin!")
The back yard is decent sized and has a metal fence, so eventually one or more of my verticals will be mounted back there, using the fence as part of the ground plane. But in the meantime, the wife is agreeable to my putting a flag pole/vertical in the front yard. If for no other reason, it never hurts to have a "stealth" antenna available -- don't know if I'll run into neighbor trouble (fortunately this is a 1960 home, no CC&R's or HOA's to worry about!) but it never hurts to be prepared. If all goes well, the house will be ours at the end of June, we'll be in it come July, and sometime in August or September, along with some other needed landscaping and yard work, the flag pole will appear -- I hope. What I'm looking for right now is just some information. So if anyone can help with the info, I'd appreciate it! 1. What size flag poles have you used? What type of tuning if any? 2. If you've used a commercial pole, where did you get it and how much? 3. Other than the Force 12 antenna, do you know of any other commercially built verticals that come disguised as a flag pole? Oh yes, I should add that I'm looking to run 40-10 on this antenna. I know that I could go with a 32' one and run it as a 1/4 wave on 40 as is, and cover 30 and some other bands with a tuner, but it might have an impedance problem on 20 & 10. (No external traps, I want to keep this in stealth mode as much as possible!); and since this home is a single story ranch (w/a finished basement), that might be a little TOO tall. The Force 12 flag pole vertical is a nice antenna, but it's a lot shorter and only 20 - 10 as is. (Wish I could talk to them about it at Hamvention, but right now that $$ has to go into the closing costs, but I'll make up for it next year!) I'm figuring that something around 20-25' might be my best bet, and I'd run a tuner in the shack at first, eventually something remote controlled at the base (buried or hidden in something ornamental) down the road. Again, any thoughts appreciated! 73, ron wn3vaw Subscribe/unsubscribe, feedback, FAQ, problems http://njdxa.org/dx-chat To post a message, DX related items only, [email protected] This is the DX-CHAT reflector sponsored by the NJDXA http://njdxa.org
