N1NKM's ANTENNA INFO PAGE!

"Big Picture" view of my VHF and HF antennas, looking North.
On 1/6/2005, my friend Chuck and I put up a modified G5RV antenna. Although it has now been repaired 4 times and repositioned slightly, the G5 WAS suspended between a tree in the back corner, and the huge oak in the front corner. About 10' of each end "dangled" from the insulators, to make it fit this small property. (Only 111 feet corner-to-corner!) The G5RV is modified because It is using 300 ohm TV twinlead, instead of 450 ohm "ladder" line. I was using the G5RV along with this 160 meter tuning system! It BARELY worked, so I seldom use it on 160. It's just TOO SHORT! The G5RV was completely obliterated by a recent storm. The feedline has crumbled to dust over time, and the wires broke in several places during the storm. Time to play "Taps" for this antenna. ;) Today, (9/24/10) Chuck and I will be replacing it, entirely. More details to come! :) The 10M dipole is made from PVC pipe, positioned at an angle, because that's the best I could get it to fit up there! It works quite well! I originally put it up in fall of 2003. I repositioned it from horizontal to "almost vertical" in 2007. It's showing its age, now... replacement may occur, soon. Not sure.

"Bird's Eye" view
This is a more detailed view of how the HF antennas are connected. I finally updated these drawings! ;) (And another update is needed, after today, 9/24/10) The BIGGEST improvement was in replacing the "wire-flung-tree" (LONG AGO taken down) with the G5RV. The "wire-flung-tree" also incorporated the north side gutter & the VHF/UHF antenna's guy wires as a counterpoise. A friend once said that I was "Taking a gutter approach to better RF radiation!" He's a funny guy. ;) Now that I have the G5RV, signal reports on 75M are quite a bit better than they used to be! :) I installed the 10m dipole in fall of 2003 so that I could work some local friends on 10M. I also wait for the sunspot activity to re-open that band, again, so that this antenna can see more use. (Probably on SSTV or PSK.) The 2M J-pole is up 10 feet above the roof and gets out fairly well. On April 18, 2009, I installed a 5-element 2M beam that my friend KA1CVV gave me the week before. :) It seems to be working rather well, considering it's in a fixed position, and "looks through" the coax & guy wire for the J-pole! They are as close to perpendicular as I could make them, so hopefully that will minimize any interaction. So far, so good! :) It is pointed roughly N/NW. What was a "wire-flung-tree" you ask? Just what the name implies... a piece of wire, flung into the tree! It worked, but not very well. I am not sorry to see it gone! ;)

HF and 10M antennas
The red oval indicates the feedpoint of the G5RV. The purple lines are where the wires go. The green oval surrounds the 10M antenna.

2M antennas

The J-pole is at the top. The 2M beam is about 4' below it. Eventually, I will reconfigure all of this to allow better clearance for the beam, and possibly even some kind of rotor when $$ and time permit. Right now, the guy wire that attaches to the chimney prevents the beam from being easily aimed in other directions, so it will stay W/NW for a while. The J-pole is now in use 24/7 as my APRS igate station. For now, it is receive-only. Hopefully, I'll get the digipeater section operational again, soon. The G5RV wire is just visible above the tip of the J-pole, running diagonally.

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