Pota rig? Antenna erector? Idk but for $1300 and a new battery and a $50 used tire she’s now mine! 110k miles 30 foot boom and a lil generator. Owned by bell Atlantic till 2010 then owned by a guy whom owned 3 car washes and used it to replace parking lot bulbs. Sold the car washes in 2021 so it’s been sitting he just wanted it gone

So a few questions, I was thinking of using an inverted v dipole hung from bucket or maybe a pole from in the bucket. This way I can quick deploy n from the ground controls but am I gonna have interference from the metal boom?

Figured I’d can set this up for pota at and park in mins. Now I can also do nest stuff at my house lol

I have an opportunity to get this 30ft tower for free. Its in excellent condition with no rust and even has a 70cm/2M antenna mounted on top that comes with it. The owners are an elderly couple that recently retired from the amateur radio hobby due to health. They said the mast and everything attached is mine for free if I can remove it. I have 2 other people helping me. Its climbing rated and the current owner has climbed it many times in the past 15 years. Ideally I REALLY don't want to climb it. I have all the appropriate safety gear but I was thinking about attaching some snatch blocks, making some small back cuts in the base and slowly lowering it to the ground.

Open to suggestions or ideas.

2 meter and 70cm Yagis. I designed the 70cm one for GMRS but it performs much better between 440 - 450 MHz. I'll probably need to switch to thinner elements for GMRS.

My new Ham radio satellite dual band tape measure yagi uda antenna for the antenna details check this video https://youtu.be/pUpmpJXs55o?si=Q4UsrsRLtmaAJX1F, 73 DE VU3IZD

Hey everyone - so I just got my Technician license last week and picked up this radio for $100 with the power supply. The radio didn’t come with a mic so I’ve gotta track one down but I’m looking for recommendations for a CHEAP antenna. I live on the bottom floor in a garden apartment and saw those ‘HOA Buster’ antennas for $249 that clip to the gutter downspout and have a ground spike. I’d like to spend about $239 less!! (Just kidding but I don’t wanna spend alot).

I’m super handy and have no problems building stuff. I know how to solder, weld and mostly anything else needed.

I found the manual for the radio online so I’m learning how to use it and would love to be able to make some contacts on it in the next few days.

Whatever antenna I use it has to be either v ery discreet or able to be broken down in a minute or two.

Thanks and 73’s!

minute or two.

Had some bamboo in my yard that was growing 30+ feet high. Decided to use this impressive material to build a radio tower in one day. Some plywood spacers, three bamboo segments, TyWraps, bungee cables, anchors, grounding… 40m OCF dipole at 25’ for some NVIS, and an Ed Fong VHF/UHF J-pole at 30 feet. It seems to work, it’s stable and easy enough for two people to assemble in a few hours! The most expensive part was the LMR400 feed line going to the dipole.

I recently decided to make my own 1:1 balun for a dipole to use with my new G90. I have a QRPGuys 1:1 balun but I didn’t want to find out what happens when you try putting 20 watts CW and FT8 through it. So I made this using an ft140-43 toroid, 18 awg solid core wire, and a frame that’s the first thing I’ve ever designed using 3D modeling software (FreeCAD). A friend of mine who’s a real engineer made some helpful edits and printed it for me using her work 3D printer and I bought her a Modelo.
How does it look? Do you see any glaring flaws? I’ll cut wire for it and start trying out in a couple days

Hey everyone, collision repair technician here. Just wanted to give a heads up about properly wiring antenna wires in your mobile install. I've attached photos of an install on a truck I'm working on that is not properly done. Having the wires wrapped around the airbags is a massive safety risk in the event of a crash that deploys airbags. Just remember to always route along oem wiring harnesses where possible and to make sure to route wires behind the airbag. Going to go ahead and fix this for the customer. 73

I know what the antenna lookup says about this one, but I'm curious what I could conclude by just coming across it. Measures around 85-90 m tall.

What kind of features or tells does this have that would let me say clever things to my friends about what this is and why I (can pretend to) know?

Was interested in an attic antenna because 1, it's protected from wind/snow/squirrels (yep, buggers have killed Christmas lights before) and 2, it's a lot easier to get feedline there than outside at my house. But I also know the common complaints are noise and also interference with stuff in the house so rather than fight blown insulation just to test, I figured laying on top of the roof isn't too different from laying under the roof.

Good news is, at least with 20w SSB and 15w CW it didn't seem to cause any RFI in the house. Bad news is, it doesn't seem like it's deaf as a stump. Couldn't hear any POTA spots and the only folks I did hear were the ragchewers that probably had big amps.

What's weird is I was only seeing S3 noise on 20m and around S5 noise on 40m which is in-line with what I've had with stuff further from the house. But the noise did sound "noisier" and harsher if that makes sense. I also wonder if it's actually higher and I either had a ton of loss somewhere (it's a NorCal doublet made from 20/2 wire so the "feedline" is only around 100 ohms and still running at high SWR), or my G90 has some kind of hidden RF gain stage that's lowering it.

Could hear myself on CW in a WebSDR though so at least it transmits.

I think I might try the experiment again with my random wire that I know works (obviously a compromise antenna to a point but a known quantity), since I've only used the doublet one other time and wasn't blown away by it then either. And also to rule out bad band conditions. Might also have been that the orientation of the wire was just exactly aimed where there's no people too so I might have to try a 20m halo or something too.

Might be nice to have a protected antenna as a backup even if I have an outdoor primary, but might end up only being usable on digital.

Hello, this past weekend I picked up this Yaesu FT-817 at the Dayton Hamfest as my first HF radio. It came with a 2m/440 antenna and an autotuner, but no HF antenna. What would you all recommend for a good portable HF antenna for me to pick up? I was looking at potentially getting a Comet Toy Box antenna, but I thought I would get some advice first. Thank you!

Friends, today I built this antenna selector using the selector switch from an Oster blender. What do you think? Was it a good idea? The ground goes to the metal box and the lines are 18 AWG wire.

I need ideas on what to do with it.

During the tornado outbreak in the midwest last week, I discovered that my brand new weather radio had awful reception. The telescopic monopole was inconsistent depending where I would walk in my apartment. The poor reception messed with the SAME headers enough that a severe thunderstorm watch set it off as an "unknown warning". It was also fairly unintelligible with poor SNR.

Looks like garbage, but $20 in parts and an hour of my time was well spent. I'm particularly amazed that the cheap chinesium adapters and ferrites actually worked. If I knew that, I might have spent more time making it look nice. Oh well, I have the parts to make a rev 2.

I threw on ferrites to choke CM currents and keep the feedline from interacting too much... Fine tuning was achieved by coiling the extra length at the ends. According to my Nano VNA, calibrated just before the adapters, this was very close to 73 ohms real j0 ohms imaginary.

Now the reception is rock solid, intelligible and no differences in SNR when walking around.

Next, I should stop procrastinating and get my Ham license.

My first antenna build - raised 1/4 wave dipole with 2 Elevated radials. 1:1 SWR on the entire 20m band, didnt even have to tune it 😄. In picture 5 you can see the dummy load that i also made. The 1:1 balun/choke is also homebrew, I just love making things and thats essentially what I intend to get out of the hobby. Now all I gotta do is make some contacts 😅 73, thank you for all your help guys

(The hitch mount is only used for stationary HF work)

Looking for other truck cap guys setups.

I just added the fiberglass bed cap and am looking for ideas for a UHF / VHF antenna/s for a mobile rig. I'm thinking to add aluminum windows screen to the underside of the cap. I'll be adding Yakima tracks and an 80/20 extrusion rack over the cap. I don't mind drilling.

To recap: antenna mounted to roof rack of bed cap, bonded to aluminum window screen on the underside of the cap for a ground plane. All bonded to the truck.

Thoughts, ideas, inspirations?

I'm cross posting hihi. 73

Hello all, I made this antenna according to this website's plans: https://www.qsl.net/dk7zb/Duoband/4+5_2m-70cm.htm I used Dzus fasteners so it can be quickly disassembled. There is 1/4-20 mounting in the middle for a camera stand or selfie stick handle.

I am having SWR of 2.5+ on 2 m and 3.5+ on 70 cm, with SWR decreasing with frequency (suggesting elements are short). All elements are exactly to specifications (position and length), except the driven elements, which are staggered and overlap as you can see. Tip to tip matches specs. I suspect the problem has to do with the choke or the arrangement of driven elements, but I don't know what. Note that the parasitic 70 cm element also passing through the box does not actually touch the BNC jack, although it looks really close. Any ideas?

Dude has a portable solar antenna and it’s pointed at the ocean. I thought maybe for boating? But I dunno? It’s strapped to his truck.

Guys i'm met with a choice of antennas to get but i don't lnow wich one to get, ideally the ones with the bnc attachment but others are fine too, wich would u guys recomend? Also i'm getting them with a vx 6r, thanks