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Antennas. . .

UPDATE: At my current location in Lynnwood, WA I have erected a 120 foot single-wire feed Windom antenna at 10 feet above ground. Since the ground area under my antenna slopes the antenna also slope to keep it at an average of 10 feet above ground. The antenna is fed 42' from one end of the antenna with the same gauge wire as the antenna and runs horizontally back to the radio shack window with a vertical section of about 5'into a 1:1 balun then through RG-8X coax to the tuner. The antenna works very well on all bands 160 thru 10 using a LDG AT-200Pro Autotuner. 

I also have attached a run of coax to the rain gutter of the condo feeding it on the Southeast downspout which gives me about a 30' vertical radiator before terminating into a 250' open loop that encircles the entire building. This antenna works extremely well on 40 meters but is very directional on receive to the South.

The entire station is grounded to  10' copper-coated ground rod about 10' from the desk desk. Connection between the station and the ground rod is via ½" tinned copper braid. The moist soil conditions here make this an ideal ground for this station.

This antennas themselves are made from #26 stranded copper-coated steel wire with a black polyvinyl jacket and using polypropylene line to suspend the antenna from the tree limbs. These antenna work well for NVIS communications at almost anytime across the State.

I have put up another 110 foot long wire antenna for the PACTOR station tuning it with my MFJ-949E tuner to work the State EMCOMM PACTOR frequency (3595 kHz.). I have had good connections to the State EOC and other PACTOR operators across the state. All reporting that my signal is good and readable running reduced (50 watts) power.

My VHF/UHF antennas are a various assortment of mobile magnet  mount antennas, mounted on metal plates, inside and outside the radio shack. All are gain-style antenna. I am able to reach most of the repeaters and nodes for PACKET using these antennas.

I will be replacing the MFJ tuner with another LDG AT-200Pro Autotuner for a better and easier tuning of the PACTOR station in the next few weeks. This will allow me to operate on other bands and do frequency scanning with the FT-840 that is supplying the RF energy for this part of the station.

Although there is some interference between the radios that are operating on frequencies close to one another, the interference is minimal.