Sunday, April 27, 2008

Clothesline style antenna hoist for experiments

AntennaHoist.jpgI'm experimenting with antennas again and wanted a way to string up a dipole so that I could easily pull it down and make adjustments.

My best antenna is a dipole tuned for PSK31 on 14.070Mhz that is over the roof of the house but while playing with a simple wire dipole between some trees next to the house I noticed it it appeared to pick up less electrical hash and it got me wondering if I should try suspending the dipole out beside the house where I currently have an end fed long wire (that picks up tons of noise).

This is a very simple idea, I'm positive others have used it too. I bought 30m of 3mm venetian blind cord and two little pulleys. (I already have a pulley up a tree from previous squid pole activities that was used to hold up the far end).

antenna hoist diagram.jpg
It's too early to tell if having the dipole away from the house is better than having it up higher but over the house but it's great to be able to drag it out and back in again for tuning. (I've got this dipole perfectly tuned on my second clipping).

Yes, I will need some weather proofing before leaving the balun out too long.

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