Since we have two acres and it's the middle of winter, time to think about antennas!
Goals
- Antenna feeder / lightning grounding points are away from house.
- Antennas are located away from house as far as reasonable.
- Lower and upper HF band antennas.
- VHF / 6m array.
- IRLP node antenna mast mounted (currently in attic).
IRLP Node
Relocate IRLP node to shed, Diamond X-50 on shed VHF mast.
Plan to eventually convert to 70cm to free up local 2m VHF FM use.
Low Band DX Delta Loop
80m inverted delta loop, vertically polarized, with 120 ft horizontal top at 65 ft.
Open wire fed to remote auto ATU.
Post on Blue Sky with Low Band DX Delta Loop patterns on 80m and 40m:
https://bsky.app/profile/lonney9.bsky.social/post/3lcv5bk2f5k2b
Model: https://github.com/lonney9/Antenna-Models/tree/main/HF/Basic
Held up with trees, need tensioning system that handles tree movement in wind.
Upper HF - Vertical Doublet
20m through 10m to remote auto ATU.
https://lonneys-notebook.blogspot.com/2021/03/40-ft-center-fed-vertical-40m-10m.html
VHF / 6m (50 MHz)
- Two stack of three or five element LFA Yagis for 6m.
- Currently have a three element
- 20 to 30 ft mast bracketed against shed.
- Winch up/down system on hinged base.
- Mast mounted 6m low noise pre-amp.
Antenna Shed (existing building)
- Feeders go-to shed.
- Grounding system at shed.
- Remote ATU and antenna switching networks.
- Coax and control cables buried to house.
- IRLP node relocated to shed.
Feeders Go-To Shed
Balanced lines from Delta Loop and Vertical Doublet go-to shed.
Remote ATU and Antenna Switching Networks
Stockcorner JC-4s remote ATU located in shed.
JC-4s is a dual memory tuner with reversible un-balanced output polarity. Intended for dual antennas with dual memories which are switched in RX mode so the connected antenna is always matched on RX as well.
Delta Loop and Vertical Doublet independent switching networks and 1:1 balun in-front of ATU. This is in addition to the JC-4s internal A/B mode.
Grounding System at Shed
- Lightning arrestors for balanced feeders and coax at shed entrance.
- Several 8 ft ground rods.
- Shed ground system bonded to electrical service entrance - AWG?
- House entrance grounding point.
- Trench with conduit.
- LMR-400 and control cables.
- Priced vs loss savings of LMR-600, not worth it for 50 MHz and below.
- Ground bonding wire.
Grounding / Entrance Panel
Check / upgrade grounding at service entrance (NEC code) as needed.
Entrance panel into garage (grounded), then to shack above.
Low Noise RX Antennas
Get the K9AY loop operational.
Maybe get Active Antenna Kit from LZ1AQ - http://lz1aq.signacor.com/
More details to come..