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AG5AL

Joined: Wed, Sep 16th 2015, 14:25 Roles: N/A Moderates: N/A

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Dipole on roof Sep 23rd 2015, 16:47 9 7,441 on 9/11/15

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Topic Author Posted On
Dipole on roof AG5AL on 9/11/15
More questions: I still cannot get my dipole to tune on several of the bands. I have tried lengthening the ladder line, shortening the ladder line, having the 4:1 MFJ balun, not using the 4:1 balun and going directly from the ladder line to the coax. Will not tune on 160, 80, 40, 30. 17. Best setup I have found so far is probably about 60 feet of ladder line, in the balun and 50 feet of coax to the tuner, which is a Yeasu FC-30 automatic tuner and I have a Yeasu 857D radio. The wire is 100 feet long. That will tune the 20, 10, and 6 almost all the time, Will tune the 60 and 15 some of the time. Never has tuned the 160, 80, 40 30 or the 17. Is my next step to try to do away with the ladder line all together and go directly from the wire to the coax, or do I need a more powerful tuner. Of course it seems the band that I hear the best is the 80. I would appreciate any suggestions.

John AG5AL
Dipole on roof AG5AL on 21/10/15
The balun is 4:1. There is about 40 feet of ladder line going to the balun and then 50 feet of coax going to the radio. What are my option?
Dipole on roof AG5AL on 20/10/15
Have another question about my antenna. Brought the ladder line to a balun placed under the eaves, then out of the balun to the radio. I have not grounded the balun yet, if that makes any difference. I am using a Yeasu 857D all band radio and also have the Yaesu FC-30 antenna tuner attached. I just got everything set up and turned on this weekend. I have a 100 foot dipole that I got from MFJ, model MFJ 1777. . When I attempt to tune, the only band that will tune up is the 20meter, which I realize is the ideal band for that size antenna. All the other bands either say they are out of band for tuning, or have a HSWR. As is often the case in these things, you ask 4 experts and you will get at least 5 answers, two or three of which are in direct contradiction to each other. I called MFJ and the technician there said that he had been in HAM radio since 1960 and had never gotten a balun to work, (thought that was a little odd since I bought an MFJ balun) that he just went directly from the ladder line to the coax. I asked him how you do that and he said, "You just do." That's great for a Nike slogan but did not help me much with my antenna. I then called Yaseu and the technician there told me I needed to get rid of the dipole, was wasting my time, was not a good antennae, was poorly resonant etc. He gave me the number of a couple of antenna companies to check with. That seemed odd since I have been reading about dipole, G5RV (or whatever they are) antennas a bunch and everybody sells them. I would prefer not to get rid of my dipole. Did not cost much but I have invested a lot of time in getting it on top of my house, fabricated stand offs to keep it off the roof, put on my climbing spurs and ascended two trees up near the top to install my pulleys. Would very much like to get my dipole to work. I would appreciate any advice.

John Lewis
AG5AL
Dipole on roof AG5AL on 23/9/15
Thank you very much. That is what I need to know.
John
Dipole on roof AG5AL on 23/9/15
I bought a 100 ft. diplole and my intention is to put it on the roof of the house and attach the wires to trees. I was going to run the ladder line down the roof and enter a balun under one of the eves and then take coax into the house. I was told that the ladder line could not lay directly on the roof due to fire hazard. Can it just lay on a board or something or does it need to be offset by a foot or so? Also one of the wires will go past my chimney which has metal flashing. Can it be insulated from the metal or does it have to stand off a fot or so?
Thanks, John Lewis AG5AL

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