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Originally Posted by KB1SYV  I can buy ladderline if it will get me better result's. What could I use as posts to wrap the wire around? I'm probably going to have to do a horizontal. Do I need to wind wire more than once? What kind of gauge wire that will hold up to ice and snow. I have an ldg at897 autotuner without a balun, will I be able to direct feed the antenna to the ladder line, to the tuner? Any suggestion on how I would ground this as well?
Jethro |
You can use just about anything as posts; the key is to make sure it can stand up to the weather. Even a wooden broom handle can work if you can weatherize it. You should be able to find some TV antenna style masts at a local hardware store and figure out a way to mount them on the roof somehow. You'll at least need one to support the center of the dipole and you may need one for each end. You need some insulators of some type, as well. You can make your own out of something or buy them. Here's a little picture:
You can see in this picture coax is used. If you use coax, you can run the feedline next to anything practically. If you use ladder line, you have to be a bit more careful. You certainly don't want to wrap it around masts! Most dipole calculators assume 14 gauge wire, but any size can be used. 14 gauge will probably handle whatever weather you can throw at it. It doesn't matter how many wraps you use to tie it off to itself...just enough that it is secure. On the outside of the insulators you can use guy wire, rope, whatever you have to work with.
Unless that autotuner has terminals for parallel feedline, you will need a balun if that is the type of feedline you want to use. They're not expensive for a 100 watt rig.
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