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Old 06-19-2008, 12:18 PM   #1
w7wv
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Default RV Antenna Support Ready For Use.

I wanted to extend my 108" whip for more efficiency and bands. It's tuned by my AH-4 tuner.
I made this antenna support and thought you might like to see it as it may give some an idea of what they can do without spending a fortune. You might even have a couple of $ left for fuel
I picked up this fiberglass telescoping pole off eBay for $41 on a "Buy It Now" from an outfit that has lots of them for sale all the time in various sizes. It's a Jackite and only weighs about 5# and collapses to some 46" or so.



I built this holder, kind of like a rod holder for fishing, out 2' of 2 1/2" PVC and a cap ($3). I bought the pipe by the foot at Ace for less than $4 so don't buy a 10' pipe. I drilled holes in the cap to keep it from filling with water if it rains.
I used 2 1/2" pipe swivels ($5 total) and two lumber construction brackets ($3) with two 1/2" bolts and nuts and washers to fit my ladder on my RV. Although not shown it will need secured to the ladder to hold the 31' pole when it's up. But you could use a couple pair of vice grips or straps for that.



And this last pix shows the pole telescoped to the 31' length. I have a key ring in the tip of this pole which allows me to pull a small 1/8" Dacron line through it to raise the wire to the top of the mast once it's clipped on to my 108" whip on the other end.





Needless to say this will be nice when I don't have any trees handy to throw some wire into. I didn't want anything that was permanent and I didn't want to spend a fortune doing it either. At least with this system it's all self contained on the RV and very portable and easy to store.
I am told by the people that made the pole it supports the wind socks it's made for to around 25 MPH. Other hams use these poles for dipoles while camping too and they claim the poles work well.
Of course it won't be used going down the road but I have enough to do just driving without talking on the radio.
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Old 06-19-2008, 07:36 PM   #2
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Now that's downright neat! And thanks for the pics. Please post the URL of the place you got the mast from.
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Old 06-19-2008, 07:55 PM   #3
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OK, here it is. They have a store on eBay. Watch the shipping prices but this was still as cheap as I could find the Jackite poles. I see the price went up a few $ on the 31' poles too but they sell various sizes of them.

http://stores.ebay.com/Sisters-Home-and-Garden-Decor

Just another idea for your new 5ver???? You already know that when you buy a new unit you find many new things to put into it
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Old 06-20-2008, 02:21 AM   #4
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I want one too!!!!
Great pics and good info.

73 w6pea
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Old 06-21-2008, 08:05 PM   #5
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Yes, a great idea. I agree, good info and photos. I'm about to give up on my old Hustler mobile ant's and Ham Sticks. Not having much success talking to the fellers back home in Florida and checking into nets. I'm going to have to do something different. Picked up enough wire today to build a 80 meter diapole since we will be at a friends pad near Franklin, NC for a few weeks. Currently in Dillard, GA. Nice wx here. Sure beats the heat and humidity back at home.

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Old 06-22-2008, 08:34 AM   #6
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I have not run the wire yet from the Whip to the pole but I think I can get another 45' of wire into the air based on my scale drawings. I think, not counting then bending of the top the whip I can get an average of 20-25' above ground level with it.
Then to experiment with the AH-h tuner to see what all it will tune. It recommends at least 23' for 6-80 meter tuning.
We have been running near record temps here and I won't spend a lot of time in this sun nowadays. We did have some early monsoon activity yesterday which cooled us down a little.
That in turn reminded me that I had better put that lead wire on the AH-4 on a switch or a clip so I can protect it from lightning. So I went outside and installed a large battery charger style clip on the lead from the whip so I can leave it disconnected during storms.
Our monsoons are about here and I don't want to lose anything if I can avoid it.
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Old 06-22-2008, 04:01 PM   #7
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I bought one of the Jackite 31' push up kite poles to build the Tee Pee v 20 and 40M antenna in the June QST. I removed the top 3 sections of the pole and built a slip on top section to hold my center connector with a SO239 connector. Antenna was pretty easy and it does give me two inverted V dipoles. Using a Tuner it will tune other bands.

The pole we reasonably priced and seemed to be sturdy enough for my use. I kept the top 3 sections in case i ever wantt o do a vertical wire.

https://www.jackite.com/index.php?cP...74f7c4baa3d31d
The link to the Jackite pole site.
Ken
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Old 06-22-2008, 05:45 PM   #8
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Yes, I have the 31' Jackite and that's what is shown.
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Old 06-22-2008, 09:14 PM   #9
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Very neat antenna support, I like how small it breaks down for storage. From what I can see they don't have any in stock but are taking pre orders not sure I would want to do that, I didn't know you could do that on Ebay.
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Old 06-23-2008, 08:46 AM   #10
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This is an eBay store that I got it at. They were out of stock when I bought mine too.
They just drop ship it directly from Jackite in VA to you.
There was no delay in getting it. I just saved money buying it from eBay rather than Jackite directly.
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Old 06-23-2008, 07:02 PM   #11
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Every time I look at it I think it would make a nice vertical antenna by putting a wire inside and then extend it.
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Old 06-23-2008, 07:27 PM   #12
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Yeah, then you can rig an Auto tuner and a motor to it and have it adjust automaticly to the correct length with the lowest swr. That would be cool! And you could call it something like the AutoSteppingVertical. Sorry, I just couldn't resist.
73
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Old 06-23-2008, 07:33 PM   #13
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Well not from where I have my AH-4 you can't.
I have it mounted within the range of my control cables at the front of the 38foot MH.
And they want you to keep the lead to the antenna as short as possible.
So the control leads would have to be a lot longer so I could move the AH-4
I don't' know about putting the wire lead inside. It might work with some lightweight flex weave which I have used from the Wireman to make dipoles on occasion. It would have to be flexible or it would bind coming down unless you were totally unobstructed on the bottom so it could trail out.
I have run into a few hams out there that just hang the wire on the outside on different poles out there and it work's just fine. One just attached it to the ring at the top and clamped it on the bottom with a thumb tightening style hose clamp at the bottom end.
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Old 06-23-2008, 07:46 PM   #14
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Just kidding Ken,
I was talking about Bill's comment above and It was in referrence to the StePP-IR vertical that does just that.
Andy



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Old 06-23-2008, 09:47 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy N1ORK View Post
Just kidding Ken,
I was talking about Ken's comment above and It was in referrence to the StePP-IR vertical that does just that.
Andy
Andy,
You are to funny but I have to ask who is the other Ken you are referring to?

Ken
There are a lot of things you can with that pole and a tuner, I might have order one sense it is such a good price. I really like my AH4 it dose such a good job. When I had a van I was told I could not run coax from the ah4 to the antenna no mater how short, it just will not work. Well I ran a 3 foot piece of coax to the antenna so I could keep the AH4 inside and it worked like a champ glad I had not heard this when I installed it. I have later heard of others who have used long lengths of coax with it with no problems at all.

On the Buddipole forum I asked the question if anyone had connected the Buddipole to a tuner, I get tired of having to bring down the antenna to change bands so a tuner would be nice. From the answers I guess it is a sin to suggest such a thing. So I put it together without and coils and the long whips and it loaded up great with AH4 and the field strength showed no difference compared to using the coils and loading it up using them so I plan on using it that way in the future. There is more than one way to skin a cat.
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Old 06-24-2008, 08:40 AM   #16
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Yes I know about the coax.
This is my second AH-4. I look at the schematic and such when I had a 706 I wanted to install in my diesel truck.
I just installed my own 259 connector on a plate out board of the case and tried it with coax feed to my whip. It worked fine.
The only reason I can see that they want that lead as short as possible is that it becomes part of the antenna?
They say ideally 23' will do all bands short of 160 of course. I have never really been much for 80 or 40 so far in my life preferring 15 and 17 when they are up and running. I also use 15, 20 and 30 for a little CW work when I get the urge.
I just like to play around and experiment a bit. I know the 108" whip can be improved on by adding length. I did it before when parked in the mountains by adding random lengths of wire to my older truck and throwing the wire up into high pine trees.
It's going to be interesting to see how much directivity I find myself with when I get the wire onto this sloper.
By the way. I found out that two small cinching cargo straps work to secure this to the ladder. Run one at the top and one at the bottom horizontally to the vertical supports for the ladder. I loop the straps around the support tube one time for stability.
One it's hanging and then supported for movement with the straps it's one tough support to try and move at all!
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Old 06-26-2008, 05:18 PM   #17
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OK, I finally got some cooler WX this AM and before the monsoons and the lightning activity that goes with them started I made some experiments.
The rope I used through the ring to pull it up was a standard 1/8" black Dacron line.
At first I tried #12 AWG wire and about 40' of it at that. It dropped the end of the CB whip down quite a bit and the top of the mast I installed also dropped down more than I liked. I suppose if you need that big of wire you could put another line 180° from the RV to the rear to the ground and guy it in the upright position but I don't think it's worth it.
Now you could continue the length of wire here and turn it into an inverted "V" if you should desire.
I had lighter wire around so I put some #18 AWG wire into the setup and it's much lighter. The whip stands up better and the telescoping pole does not drop much either. Using the lighter wire it looks like the RV is in motion with the whip bending back at if in the wind. The telescoping pole bends the other was and looks like a surf rod with a slight pull on it.
I would recomend #18 or 20 AWG wire for this install.
Oh, and I used 1" ratcheting type straps top and bottom on the support tube for lateral support. I hooked the "S" ends to the ladder on either side and wrapped the PVC pipe once with each strap. You couldn't move that pipe if you had to. The ladder takes the vertical weight and the horizontal straps will keep it from ever shifting when the wind stresses the pole above.
Just sharing some ideas.

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Old 06-27-2008, 02:07 AM   #18
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Ken

Looks like that should work. I like the Pictures.......let me or us know how well it works. I might just have to copy your set looks great.

73 w6pea
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Old 06-27-2008, 08:42 AM   #19
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OK this is it. It is shown this morning with the morning sun hitting it so hopefully you can see the bends properly.
This is strung with #18 AWG solid which I had on hand.
The angle and height are both acceptable to me.
FYI the tip of that bright orange pole is about 35' in the air.
The black line you see on the 108" whip is 1/8" Dacron cord I use to pull it down when I travel. I have a couple of eyelets it feeds through so I can tie it down without getting a ladder out.




You know I never thought about it until now, but with a pair of poles you could run a dipole the length of the RV assuming it was long enough for the frequency.
Just playing around!
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Old 06-28-2008, 12:11 PM   #20
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I just tried this antenna out.
I knew just prior to Field Day there would be a lot of competition for space on the air particularly on 20 meters.
100w, no processing (don't like to use that anyway) and with the slope of the antenna away from my target stations I was getting 5/9 signal reports to the east of me in FL, LA and GA. One guy sitting on 14.250 said I was the loudest thing that could be heard calling him by far. Not bad for an RV signal.
None of these stations were using beams so I picked them on purpose as they were running 100 watts and dipoles of one sort or another.
I think this setup will work for me.
I am not sure what kind of gain I am getting over the 108" whip but the extra wire has got to help me if I get on 40 and 80 in particular. I can tune 40 on the whip but I don't think it's really effective and 80 does not tune with just the whip of course.
Anyway, pretty simple setup and not a lot of money invested. Stores easy and the whole thing is light to carry in the RV so it works for me.
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