Woot woot... Random Wire is up. F you HOA.

[kidphc]

Finally, got my Ultimax DX Extreme 72' Random Wire Antenna up. Mounted the transformer/unun to the bottom of a bird feeder with RG58 and counterpoise wire down bird feeder pole. In a vain attempt to hide it a bit from the HOA.

 

The other end is tied to 50Lb Mono filament that I was fortunate to hook around the LNB of a satellite dish mounted to the chimney. This took several attempts, one attempt resulted in a cut monofilament when I hooked the angle adjuster. One attempt nearly end my day as I started to slide off the roof. Resulting in a lot of pulled muscles, burns from the hot shingles. *** it was a lot steeper then I thought originally. I do not recommend climbing the roof. Hire someone.

 

The RG58 runs down the pole, I have yet to trench the RG213 from the DX Engineering NEMEA box which I had finally got installed and grounded the previous weekend.

 

Sadly, now waiting on RG400 for the patch lines into the shack. Now I am contemplating switching from LMR400 to RG400 for the feed line to the 2m/70cm antenna in the attic.

 

The bird feeder antenna in all it's glory. Photo is before the antenna was pulled and counterpoise was buried.

[tweiss3]

Congrats!

What bands is the 72' version good for?

 

I don't have an HOA, but I have a My antennas 8010p, and it's hung between two trees at about 27'. My wife never knew it was there until I showed her this weekend. She laughed cause it's been about a month. She also hasn't noticed my silver 6m dipole either though.

 

Edit, I did use DX400MAX to everything though.

[kidphc]

Suppose to be good for 160-6m. With a wide band tuner. I have an ltg 100 pro ii. We shall see. Since it is really for listening so should work well for that. Really wanted something permanent for NVIS and ground wave on 10/6.

 

The photo was from a walk my wife took behind the house with the kids. She said IRL it looks just like a birdhird feeder and the wires are unnoticeable.

 

Working on a fan dipole for 40/20/15/10/6. Just need to set it up to tune.. That will be stop gap till I get the general ticket. Then the next step will be either the Dx commander or nebula for DX work.

 

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[tweiss3]

It doesn't look like you have tons of room, but you sure did a good job of using all the room you had. I like how easy it is to hide wire antennas in plain site.

 

Then again, a tree or two and most things hite from the general public. This is my 6m dipole:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/T7sQ8Fgf3DPoxiGV9

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6CrAYg3gb5gnaNG8A

 

Yes, it's hanging vertically, so it acts omnidirectional and isn't deaf at it's ends.

[kidphc]

I like that setup.

 

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[1URFE57]

I have a 40M OCF Dipole on the roof its was featured on DX Engineering, the longer side of the antenna is going in front of the house and the short side is at the backyard along the fence its been on the roof since 2017 I also have an 20M End-Fed on the side so far no notification from HOA.

[wqxq281]

Good enough.  I've got a 50' end fed long wire, 100 watts, Yaesu FT450D.  Feed end is 4' off the ground and slopes up to about 30'.  I track almost every HF contact I make off this set-up.  Have a confirmed QSO as far as Malta, 4468 miles.

[OldRadioGuy]

Hi, I'm from the HOA and we're coming for you!  Just kidding. 

 

I use the icom AH4 random wire auto tuner with my icom 718 HF rig.

It really works great with 42' of wire on 80-10 meters. 

You have to use a wire length that is not resonant on any frequency that you will be using.

You can use shorter or longer lengths depending on the bands you want etc.

 

The reason this tuner works so well is that it goes outside and there is NO transmission line between the tuner and the random wire.

The random wire feed point is right at the matching unit - and the voltage can be rather high so mount it out of reach.

This is why it needs to be an auto tuner - because it has to be mounted out at the antenna feed point.

 

It's not a cheap solution but it works very well and is very convenient.

I have no complaints about it.

 

Vince