The Monster is Ready

The smell of Solder in the Morning!

Ready to Go Up!

After a lot of research, I've finally decided that an Off Center Fed dipole would be the perfect antenna for my operating habits.  I wanted an antenna that covers 160 through 6 meters that I can use with my SB-1000 amplifier without a tuner.  I looked at the Buxcomm OCF dipole at $300.00 and then started looking around the shack to see what I had available.  I found the dogbones for the end connectors and I had 150 feet of silky wire from the "Wireman" I bought four years ago for another project that never got built.  I ordered a 4:1 balun from Universal Radio and started putting together the tools.  My 50ft tape measure wasn't going to do the job, so I invested in a 100 ft tape from Lowes ($14.95).  I've wanted a butane powered soldering iron for a long time, so this was the best possible time to buy the Bernzomatic Kit ($19.95).   So with found items from the shack box and about $60.00 in purchases, I'm ready to haul this 135 foot monster up for a try.  It's 90 feet long on the heavy end and 45 feet long on the light end.  I have a pulley up at the 50 foot level of a large tree directly behind the house for the center connector and another pulley up for the heavy end.  The light end may be a bit of a struggle, but I know it's doable.

Up a Tree without a Paddle

I work a lot of digital modes, and I've noticed a lot of vertical antennas out there for my fellow digifreaks.  I've been wondering how a vertical antenna would work for me, because I do have some local noise, and I've just wanted to give it a try.  I had a brand new Unidilla 1:1 balun hanging around from some long-lost hamfest somewhere, so I decide to put it to use making a good solid 20 meter dipole to string up out in the backyard.  after some minimal trimming, it worked just like you'd expect a dipole to work.  But then I got the jazzy idea to string it up like a vertical.  I have this very large tree in the backyard directly behind the shack that's at least 50 feet tall. I already have a rope up there; it's where I have one end of my G5RV attached.  so I just hauled one end of the dipole up to the top and tethered the other end to the tree trunk about 20 feet off the ground.  Voila! a twenty meter half-wave dipole polarized vertically!
The first thing I noticed is how much better it listens.  A lot of the ambient noise I've been putting up with is simply gone.  I know it's early days, but either twenty meters opened up a lot or this antenna really has some gain.  I was able to feed the coax off the dipole almost horizontally, so that's another problem solved.  I'm going to try this for a while, and then think about a fan dipole for 10 and 15 meters up the same tree.