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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 06-30-2008, 03:59 PM   #12
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I will add one final note. We had a monsoon come in here that was a good one yesterday. We had winds of 45 mph plus gusts over that which is typical this time of year.
This mast stayed in place just fine the with the wire in place. It did whip around a lot topside but it held up OK. I would not put a heavy load on it though with any kind of wind.
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Old 06-30-2008, 04:33 PM   #13
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Ken

I think you mistook what I asked. I might not have worded it right. I use a sidekick as a mobile antenna. I also use it at home on a tripod. I was wondering if I put up a mast as you have will it work? I use the sidekick and it works great by it's self. I set it about 25 ft away from the RV with the radials. I was looking at your set up. If it helps with the AH4 and a whip it should work (I hope) with my set up I have hooked a wire to the set up at home and it worked well just in the tree and on the roof of the carport. So all I can do is try it out.
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Old 06-30-2008, 04:52 PM   #14
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Oh, I misread (won't be the first time either) you would still have to have the radials for it.
At one time while I was renting property I had a High Sierra model 1500 on the roof. High Sierra recommended 8 each 10 foot radials from the base of the antenna to the roof. Even if it was elevated the radials must still come from the antenna. If I remember right they said it would be better if the radials were not at a downward angle more than required too.
They actually told me that the antenna would work better lower to the ground than it would high on a mast.
Check your manual, I would bet that for non mobile ops they tell you the same thing they told me on the phone and that's the 8 each 10' radials.
I am not sure about the Sidekick but they also had me remove a coil on the base of the antenna at the time.
I am thinking that was for 80 meters????
You might want to call them on the phone. They are very helpful.
Personally I thought the antenna install was much better and effective on my truck than in ever was on the roof but when it's all you can have you take what you can get if you know what I mean.
I am not sure about adding extra wire to the screwdriver itself. Why not? Experiment! I know on the. 1500/1800 series you can add or delete the whip for certain freqs.
I am thinking that the long wire AH-4 tuner has a little more tuning capability than the screwdriver but you never know.
I thought about another screwdriver for the RV but this setup was half the cost, less maintenance overall and I think better suits my needs at this time.
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Old 07-01-2008, 01:13 AM   #15
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I had High Sierra make me up a set that are 25 ft. long 2 sets of 4 radials like the ones that come with the Sidekick and the tripod.

I haven't used them yet. But when we go up to Nevada later next month (August) I am going to try them. I put a 102" whip on the antenna and it works better than the 3ft mast. Tunes almost all of the band to below 1.5 seems good that way. I have about 500ft of wire on a spool and will make a couple of runs and see how they work out.
73 w6pea
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Old 07-19-2013, 06:45 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by w7wv View Post
Oh, I misread (won't be the first time either) you would still have to have the radials for it.
At one time while I was renting property I had a High Sierra model 1500 on the roof. High Sierra recommended 8 each 10 foot radials from the base of the antenna to the roof. Even if it was elevated the radials must still come from the antenna. If I remember right they said it would be better if the radials were not at a downward angle more than required too.
They actually told me that the antenna would work better lower to the ground than it would high on a mast.
Check your manual, I would bet that for non mobile ops they tell you the same thing they told me on the phone and that's the 8 each 10' radials.
I am not sure about the Sidekick but they also had me remove a coil on the base of the antenna at the time.
I am thinking that was for 80 meters????
You might want to call them on the phone. They are very helpful.
Personally I thought the antenna install was much better and effective on my truck than in ever was on the roof but when it's all you can have you take what you can get if you know what I mean.
I am not sure about adding extra wire to the screwdriver itself. Why not? Experiment! I know on the. 1500/1800 series you can add or delete the whip for certain freqs.
I am thinking that the long wire AH-4 tuner has a little more tuning capability than the screwdriver but you never know.
I thought about another screwdriver for the RV but this setup was half the cost, less maintenance overall and I think better suits my needs at this time.
Most all of the screw driver types work best at ground level. I tow a camper and some times if I'm lazy and don't feel like putting up the big antenna I just use the Tarheel while it's still on the truck with a coax run inside the camper.
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Old 06-23-2008, 07:27 PM   #17
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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
Andy - N1ORK



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Old 06-23-2008, 07:33 PM   #18
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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   #19
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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   #20
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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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