Hi all,

We have decided that the potential to move house has passed (for now anyway) so am looking to install something a little more suited to HF than I currently use, this wont be anything for contest busting, just a bit of casual voice and data use between 40 and 6m.

I was thinking of either an

(a): Inverted L, I can mount a 10m fiberglass pole off the back of the garage which is at the back of my very small rear garden, mount the UnUn at the base then run the wire up and across the garden (about 30 feet) then over the apex of the roof, my house is side on to the garden, this would give me around 60 feet of wire (ish, perhaps a fraction more). OR

(b): Removing the 10m vertical at the gable end of the house (roughly the middle of the available space) putting a 5m pole there giving me around 5 feet about the roof line, then running something center fed, one end to the opposite gable end the other to a pole in the same place as with option (a). Would be fed with coax not ladderline.

(c): UnUn on far gable end at about 30 feet, roughly 60 feet long wire across the roof to the pole on the garage.

(d): Some kind of inverted V formation from the near gable end, not quite sure what angles I can get the legs in though.

While option (a) maybe better I am not so keen on running the coax under the garden and then up the flat roof extension to the house wall then up to the shack.

Option (b) may not give me quite enough wire in the air and the center feed is probably not exactly in the center of the plot which again may reduce the amount of wire I can use.

I would welcome any other suggestions.

Thanks.

Ian

I use an inverted L, the one from PW, Len GM0ONX design. Had some real fun with it the
last couple of weeks. DX spotting for a mate who has an Ultrabeam 40-6 up. I can hear
the DX stations, but they are beyond my grasp. Some are barely over the noise here.

Probably never get a beam up here unless it's VHF. Unless someone offers me a TGM beam,
at the right price.

Phil - G7BZD

Inverted L.

I use the same, and it actually rests on the roof.

It is just over 20m total length, and I intentionally used the coax as part of the antenna, by using clip on ferrites (about 6-10) and moving them along the coax from the antenna until I get the best SWR sweep.
also have six on the coax just before it enters the shack.

I can use mine from 160m to 6m with the rigs internal tuner.

Good results 7 megs up to 18 megs, OK from there to 28, though I use a vertical there, not so good on 1.8 and poor but ok on 3.5.

But it works

I made one of these today. Not trimmed it yet but it looks like the article and has just a 3 ft single earth rod. It has dips close to all the right places, all below 2:1
Its a bit noisy and doesn't have the ears of my loop, but have to say I'm impressed for the very small size.

My last contact during CQWW WPX was Costa Rica, using the inverted L. I also managed a
couple of the old Russian states around the Black Sea area.

Phil - G7BZD

I appreciate the L works, I sort of use one but with the UnUn at the top of the T bracket rather than at the base of the pole, just how it could be done at the time, I am sure if I put the UnUn where it should be and used it in the "proper" configuration it would serve me well, the only draw back is feeding the coax up to the shack, but with a bit of planning I could work around it to make it tidy.

Best solution would probably be a doublet but I cannot have the ladderline swaying around in the wind, rules out anything G5RV related.

I've used an inverted L tuned with a SGC230 at the antenna feed point and several random length wires laid on the grass as a counterpoise. Tunes everywhere. SGC230 or CG3000 and the like definitely worth it for random wires. No high coax loss.

I would recommend a flat-top, or an inverted Vee, doublet fed with 450 Ohm window line. Put a twist in the window line approx. every foot. Stand-off insulators strategically placed should stop it swaying so much. Coax. will also sway about if not supported, but both types of feeder need some slack so it doesn't break when the doublet/dipole moves in the wind.
I also recommend the MFJ-974 balanced ATU, good for up to 300W, or the high-power MFJ-976 if you plan to run full legal power.

If you have the space then have a look at the ZS6BKW. My one covers 40m trough to 6M, but some bands do need an ATU. You will find loads of info about the ZS6BKW but his link will give you some basic into https://www.tdars.org.uk/zs6bkw-multiband-antenna/ 30m and 15m need the ATU but the rest is fine. You need about 90Ft or 27.5M end to end.

Hopefully with all the feedback you can set on the air.