New MACO BA1 Balcony Antenna

[Yankee]

I'm a perfectionist.

But, like I said, it's all in line with my COAX wiring from outside, thru the tuner and my antenna switch. And of course, SWR changes with the weather. This morning there is almost an inch of snow and ice stacked up on the top side of the elements and I am able to dial SWR back to almost 1:1.

 

[TonyV225]

I have so many tuners here aswellthat I have them inline on all my setups I run them in bypass position oviously when Im transmitting where the antenna is cut for its resonant frequency and dont need the tuner unless I am getting out of band or tuning way up or down on the band I should be operating on.

Those Gamma matches are a breeze to adjust to acheive your SWR goal. Theres a few adjustments that ccan be made and alot of people dont think about one of them. Whatever it takes to achieve that desired SWR is what we need to do rather its messing with gamma or element lengths the goal is the same and thats to do whatever it takes to get that SWR where it or we need it to be.

 

[Yankee]

Changing the subject a bit, but have you ever put a volt meter from the case of your tuner and to a good ground and then key down? I did that with mine awhile back and found over 5 volts. LOL

Also where are your tuners sitting? Can you place the radio close to it or even on top?

 

[TonyV225]

I have them sitting ontop of radios in 3 setups and as far as voltage on cases I had that before I ran a ground to the equipment. I was getting zapped when reaching over or behind things it was crazy!! And that was even when not keyed up and it turned out to be stray static electricity that traveled from the antennas through the feedlines "Coax' to equipment.

This static happens when its windy out and ofcourse when its stormy out. Run a ground wire to a coldwater pipe if need be or only option it works as Ive done it I have several of these lightning arrestors which work great as they have a ground lug right on them to bleed off static electricity right off tyhe coax before it enters the equipment.

Remember, It only takes a small little static shock or arc to plowout and IC "intergrated Chip" and other parts of the alike.

 

[Yankee]

I had small voltage on them without keying up, but when keyed up it went to over 5. And I actually have the ground on my manual Dentron 2000A going to a copper rod right outside the window and connected with 10Ga copper solid wire. So I am wondering what now.

But the reason I separated them was I was getting RFI that would affect my computer, wireless mouse and keyboard. Separating all that by 4 feet stopped it. But it added 18 feet of COAX to reach it on a shelf now. LOL

I swear, you can't win for losing in this game.

 

[canoe]

I have a sirio sd27 mounted flat at 36'. Easy to put together. I'm very impressed with its performance, and surprised on how directional it is. Its durable. Put it up last summer, and its still up there. Even survived a brutal Canadian winter, and strong spring winds

I would of bought the Maco, but they weren't making it at the time

 

[Yankee]

11 Meters is just dead up here again. Nothing on any antenna at any time of day. I took the Maco down till and if it ever returns. No sense in leaving it up to draw attention if it isn't working.

 

[dave457]

Its dead over here in Caly also other than the Rodger beeps from down south

 

[Yankee]

Got some fair skip over the last few days so I put the Maco back on it's pole. Then I just read we had a big Double X Flare about 4 hours ago. LOL I still hear some occasional termites though, so got my fingers crossed. Also got a new radio to play with, a 101EE that has been doing good. Can't wait to see what it does.

Tony, do know which side the gamma should go on? First time I set it to the rear side of the beam tube. Rear meaning the front was pointed to the wide open area of my yard, versus the house side about 5 or 6 feet behind. Now it is reversed, on purpose, to see what it does. Shouldn't matter much though, since takeoff angle at my low height is going to be near vertical.

 

[TonyV225]

Nope it doesnt matter bud, I just make sure when vertical that the gamma is on the upper element I may crawl up my tower tomorrow and run coax back up and play with the BA-1 again since skip is rolling I want to get more 10 meter use texting on it.

 

[Yankee]

Before skip died, it was working pretty good, but not so much better than my inverted V dipole. It was more like the dipole was good in the morning, then by noon or a bit after, the Maco was better for bringing in California, til dark, then the Dipole again. Odd, but that's how it was.

I still can't wrap my head around how that gamma works on a one element beam though.

 

[15minigrass]

I took off my vert. element for my YQuad. That would be the same thing.

Which would yield better Tony, HRZN or VERT?

 

[Mike.S]

Hello all,

I just joined the site because of this forum. In case you all do not know, you can find all the specs on this antenna and all the other Maco antennas on the Maco site. They also recommend you fill the tubes with rope to absorb the vibrations from wind and harminics if you plan to leave it up permanent . And for those of you looking to find it, a very good place I have bought things from is www.Copper.com they have it for 99.99 plus shipping. Copper has great people and prices and ship out very quickly.. I have never had a problem with them and have been a customer for at least 20 years.. I'd love to see the new review on this from TonyV225 soon.. if he is still playing with the BA1. The little Para dynamics tuner and power meter is true junk trust me.. I made the mistake of getting one many years back.. just get the Maco tuner or a MFJ-945E off ebay for a low cost brand name tuner.

At present I am running an 84ft L-shaped random wire horizontal antenna about 16ft off ground through a 9-1 unun box and my MFJ--949E tuner, but looking to get one of these BA1's for a quick up low cost 10-11 meter antenna.

Best of luck to all and great forum on the BA1 hope to hear more.

Mike.S DX # 871 in N.E Corner of Ohio 73's

 

[Slowmover]

Thx for the thread. Started looking at “reasonable” apartment-dweller antennas recently, so this and its Sirio equivalent are on that short list.

 

[Handy Andy]

This is a cool idea...

Thx for the thread. Started looking at “reasonable” apartment-dweller antennas recently, so this and its Sirio equivalent are on that short list.

Have to agree...