Foundation course

[filsgreen]

Thank you for your advice and very kind offer Mendologist; I've Pm'ed you my address. I think I'm in area 9, Liverpool? Hi WF, thanks for your advice; I'll have to use the internet for my needs as there is only a CB shop in Liverpool. There is a Maplins not far away, but if they are expensive it's probably better and easier to use Thunderpole.

Phil

[filsgreen]

WF; I'm planning to put the antenna on a mast, which will be attached to a shed that is seven feet high at its apex. With that in mind, what would make a good mast? Also, could I put an x50 at the top or would that interfere with the dipole? As you can tell; I know very little about amateur radio

Phil

[Hamradioop]

a good mast would thick walled aluminium scaffold pole in 20 foot length are a good bet, they are still used for the hand rails /safety barrier

Here is one idea http://www.m0mcx.co.uk/how-to-build-a-t ... ing-poles/

[Wingfoot]

WF; I'm planning to put the antenna on a mast, which will be attached to a shed that is seven feet high at its apex. With that in mind, what would make a good mast? Also, could I put an x50 at the top or would that interfere with the dipole? As you can tell; I know very little about amateur radio

Phil

Hi Phil

Sorry I've only just noticed this reply, if your in an urban setting the challenge on any band but especially VHF/UHF is going to be the clutter of buildings surrounding your location, to reach out as far as possible you need to get your antenna up above & clear of those obstacles as much as possible, Hamradioop has already linked one solution to construct a mast if you have the space for it.

Im lucky that I'm in a semi rural position with only the odd hill blocking my signal in a few places, but in order to maximise my signal I've got my pole up as high as I can at a high point of my house in order to clear the roofs of my distant neighbours.

From the New Toy thread where we were discussing the distance between GB3CR & GB3Li repeaters, I checked on google earth this morning & they are only about twenty five miles apart, so closer than we thought & so with a clear takeoff you may very well be able to hit it.

The dipole antenna I posted is designed to be a lightweight rucksack portable option for hilltop SOTA (summits on the air) operation & will not be strong enough to mount an X50 to the top for long term use. but they can be quite effective when stood up in the loft of your home

Screw fix stock a cheap-ish option on their website, its the Labgear 29924LAB 3m Aerial MastProduct Code: 32094 at just £16.78 the poles are swaged at the end so one fits inside one another, for extra security simply clamp them together with a standard exhaust clamp & of course there is nothing stopping you joining multiple packs together to give you any hight you desire, but being steel the weight will start to add up, a friend of mine uses these & they are holding up ok, if your mounting them on a house & need more than 3m it may be better to go for aluminium instead to save weight & stress on your mountings.

Good luck.

Wf

[filsgreen]

Thanks for the advice Hamradioloop, my wife would not let me put that up, but there are good tips on that site. Hi WF, I'm thinking one 20 foot aluminium scaffold pole attached to the gable end with KT brackets at intervals of a foot and two foot from the base? That would give me about 30 foot in real height. I would then put the x50 at the top and a dipole running parallel to the scaffold pole, is this feasible? I'll post photos to give you an idea of the layout, thanks for your help.

The mast will be attached to this wall as close as I can get to the middle with my ladders

This will be the direction of the dipole, there is a railway line about 150 yards away by the flats and the docks are about A half mile away, where the repeater is situated. Not ideal I know.

Phil

[Wingfoot]

Hi Phil

Your plan sounds a good one, I would say space your brackets a little bit more to aid stability, but other than that should be good to go.

I took the liberty of using the link I posted to try & give you an idea of coverage to expect on 2M.

From your location description & from the pictures I chose Bowersdale Park at 11.8 metres above sea level as the closest location, It was a guess & could be way off, but using an X50 with 4.5db gain at 30 feet to the antenna base & with RG213 coax & 10 watts on 145.500 the program produced the attached map.

Seems you will be able to hit the high ground north west of Wrexham & GB3CR as well as most of the city of Liverpool & further afield.

You should also be able to monitor a lot of marine band traffic as well.

Be careful on the ladders !

Wf

Click the map to enlarge it.

[filsgreen]

Thanks for taking the time to get my coverage WF, bowersdale park is not far away. I'll definitely take care in the ladders, so much so that I may get someone else to do it.

Phil

[Wingfoot]

Phil

It would be interesting to hear how accurate the predicted coverage is once you get your station set up.

I think I'm actually going to do slightly better than the prediction for my own set up, so that may also apply to yours as well.

I also heard today that the exam I was due to take on Wednesday has been delayed a week because of some administration foul up, so that's another week I'll have to read the book once again !

The frustration is starting to grow....

Wf

[uivenger]

The start of my foundation course has been put back another week! grrrr!

[filsgreen]

Hi guys

Look on it as an opportunity to do a bit more swotting.

Phil