Using a Mobile HF Antenna in a Fixed Location (#510)

Thanks For All You Do Dave, 73's from KD0FDF CA.

I can say that a trench ground with 2 8' ground rods screwed together works very well in the desert. I used that method many times in different deserts in my Marine Corps career. Another that works is three 4 foot rods driven into the ground in a triangle a foot apart, bond them with braid and attach your ground.

My wife is from Lucerne Valley. Still a great area. We live in MA now, but I can't wait to operate out there next time we visit.

I have a question for the group… Without the negative comments about the Yaesu-120A, can some one check my theory about mounting this in the middle of a steel or rout iron round picnic table to use as a ground plane/counterpoise? It is designed to be mounted on the iron railings of apartment balconies. So if that makes for a good ground plane, why wouldn’t a round metal picnic table?

I at one time when I first moved in to my new home, used the rain gutter system with a buried counterpoise system , it worked.

My first base CB antenna was a stainless steel whip mounted on an 8 foot square of four inch steel grid and I had a very low swr and was able to get out over 50 miles .

Great topic for a lot of people who for whatever reason (commonly ability, mechanical attachment points, or authorization) cannot put up a big vertical or climb up to string a wire antenna. I use a mobile VHF/UHF antenna with a four-element counterpoise on an old camera tripod in my shack. It works well enough until I can find a way to appease my HOA. My house Ufer ground apparently goes up through the garage wall and connects to the breaker box and then to the meter on the exterior wall, where there's also a ground bus bar for bonding additional ground rods. I think that's a very common way of doing it in new construction these days.

good stuff dave. i use my ham sticks and hustler mobile antennas when i`m camping. i put 2 mirror mounts with the 3/8x24 stud mounted on the side of the camper and away i go. i just need to remember to ground the camper i always forget. i never use radials but i want to try and see if they help. great info dave.

Hello Dave! Nice to know you were once a southern Californian! I know that area you speak of very well. I used to do field day setup at the top of highway 18 near Wrightwood/Lake Gregory area and worked a lot of dx with a 10m hamstick !

Thanks KD0EBF

I made contact with WE1SPN in Bristol CT. If I recall correctly, they had a tarheel antenna on the roof. They have about 4 acres of “ground plane”. Great signal for a bunch of engineers!

Hello Dave. Thanks Again.

Great videos by the way.

Great video

I have a height restriction in my backyard due to power lines. Because my dog at the time viewed my chickens as a delicious puzzle, I ended up using a 10x10x6 metal frame dog kennel with chain link siding. I added a chicken wire top to keep out hawks. At some point, I needed a 40M antenna so I purchased a MFJ hamstick and a mirror mount that got screwed to a 4x4 clamped to the top of the coop. A copper braid was used to bond the ground to the coop. The first night I was using FT8 on 40M, I was able to log a contact in Australia so I knew it was working. 73 de KM6KPW

What if I want to put an Antenna, say, on my Ridge Vent on the Peak of my Roof? In my case the Antenna is the Tram 3500 Magmount which would be affixed to the Steel Ridge Vent, dimensions are 1'x 3' (give/take). I had one guy say to run a single length of Wire 104-106" long in as horizontal an orientation as possible, which sounds to me like a Ground Plane...he's calling it a Counterpoise. I was under the impression the Ridge Vent is the Counterpoise. As far as Grounding, the House has the rebar you speak of outside the Garage. the distance between the proposed mounting location and the Ground is roughly 35 feet (again, give/take), and it's my understanding that if the Ground is longer than the Antenna, it becomes the Antenna, which I'm also told you DON'T want. This type of installation is highly desirable if do-able, as the HOA here frowns on Antennas, specifically HF Setups...I'm surprised they let me erect my GMRS Antenna on a Pole out back...appreciate any help/advice on this, as I can't find much about this that I understand...

Will this concept work if I mount a 40 m mobile antenna to my aluminum pool cage, 10 ft above ground, and connect it to a ground rod directly below the antenna? Thanks, Gary

you mention high desert,is there a low desert then?

Nice video. In your drawing you didn't specify the radial lengths. I know you can use .125 wave length radials, but for a multi band antenna, say 10-40 meters, what radial lengths would you recommend? thx.

Any videos on your channel about "working from an apartment" with antennas mounted on the balcony railing, particularly the HF bands; grounding from the 2nd floor, and running and amplifier? Thank you. Good video, KD8EFQ/73 Thumbs Up, and subscribed!