What is a ham to do when they have an antenna that is too close to the ground?
Well, I have an EFHW8010 that has one end elevated in a tree, about 10 ft up. I then stretch it across the yard and double it back to my hamshack. The antenna is about 130 ft but it stretches about 80-ish feet across the yard before I double it back half the distance.
However, recently, I haven’t been able to get my EFHW8010 up as far as I’d like in the tree.
So I came up with a temporary solution!
This is two 10-ft by 1.25-inch diameter PVC pipe sections connected together. I have a large metal stake in the ground I normally use for a, well, ground.
I mounted the pipe over top the large metal stake and then pushed it into the ground as far as I could get it.
It’s not the most stable thing, but I can work on that. But the most important part is, it is actually getting me a better signal on my EFHW8010 antenna having the middle section 20-ft into the air!
My plan is to take it down when I’m not using it, so it doesn’t fall due to excessive weather. I’ll find more ways to secure it to the side of the shed, but I wanted a temporary solution to help with my antenna.
And, so far, it seems to be doing great!
My ultimate goal is to get my 16-ft tower up, but that’ll require pouring some concrete and getting a different antenna.
cross-posted to Mastodon.Radio at, https://mastodon.radio/@k8vsy/109417964729469569
Update #1 #
The big winter storm of 2022 has been brutal, but my makeshift antenna mast has survived (so far)!
I’m excited with how well it is doing. The antenna wire for the EFHW has fallen off, but I’m going to wait until the storm is over to fix that. No sense in fixing it and having it blow right back down.
73, K8VSY
💬 Comment: