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Home Homebrew 1/4 Wave 10 Meter Ground Plane

Another version.
Old shock-cord whip cut to 98.5” atop a small aluminum tripod from Wolf River Coils (12” legs) with three 98.5” wire radials lying on the ground pointed east. No coil, no matching device, no balun, no nothing. SWR is 1.1 across the band.
Contacts include England, Wales, Brazil and all over the US with 50 watts.


C2A3DD63-51D2-48BB-AFFA-60D7E76E3824.jpeg

1667421810769.jpeg
 
Another version.
Old shock-cord whip cut to 98.5” atop a small aluminum tripod from Wolf River Coils (12” legs) with three 98.5” wire radials lying on the ground pointed east. No coil, no matching device, no balun, no nothing. SWR is 1.1 across the band.
Contacts include England, Wales, Brazil and all over the US with 50 watts.

Riverman,

That setup looks great to me, but I live in a forest full of tall trees. I live on a corner and the side street runs somewhat straight for close to a mile both ways.

I have often noticed my antennas seemed to favor these two directions, both-ways Northwest and Southeast, in the clearing over the street. Thus, I figure the trees might have some effects on my signals.

I sometimes wish I was in-the-clear all around like you.

73's

Marconi
 
Riverman,

This looks great to me, but I live in a forest of tall trees. I live on a corner and the side street runs straight for close to a mile both ways. I have often noticed my antennas seemed to favor these two directions, both-ways...Northwest and Southeast in the clearing over the street. Thus, I figure the trees have some effects on my signals.

I sometimes wish I was in-the-clear all around like you.

73's

Marconi
The pic doesn’t show my house 15’ west of the antenna. That’s why the radials are pointed east. Still, I have houses in that direction blocking me too. No alleys here, houses are bunched together. Luckily, it seems to be pretty omni-directional. I hear and make contacts in ALL directions.
 
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Made the decision to convert the antenna solely to 11 meters and dig my magnetic loop out of the closet for 10-40. I haven't conversed with the local CB'ers here in over a year. When our dog Scoot died, I lost interest in radio and such for a long while. After bouncing around between hobbies, I eventually settled back into Ham radio.

Not sure what's going on here. With this antenna, the local CB'ers are all hearing me better than ever, including when I was using an Antron-99 @ 15'. AND, I am receiving all of them better. We all gained 1-2 S units. :unsure:

What makes this really interesting is I previously was using a Uniden 980 and RM KL203 and a now am only using a President Richard @11 watts. :oops: We are all scratching our heads.

Radio is definitely a box of chocolates. :giggle:
Well, now, Riverman, every good CBer knows with all that power you were shooting right over all those locals with that signal. . . ;)
 
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I suggest to use choke balun and insulate antenna and radial(s) from mounting pole.
Also I would use 3-4 radials instead of one. Just one skew antenna pattern.
Mike


Choke.jpg
There you go, Mike.

SWR changed very slightly. Had to lengthen the radial a inch or so. Readings are now back to 1.1 on Channels 1 and 40, and 1.0 on 20.

Stuck with single radial though. Pointed at the locals I talk to. :giggle:
 
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