[Elecraft] Underground Antennas (WAS: Ham Ingenuity)

[Sandy W5TVW]

The only "ground" antenna I worked with was a 270 ft. horizontal loop
made from #28 enemeled wire.  It was in a pentagon shape and laying 
right on the ground.
It loaded well with my antenna coupler thru a 1:1 homemade balun 
wound on a big 4" ferrite toroid form with about 12 turns trifilar
wound #18 solid hookup wire.  
I worked quite well I thought, except the signals incoming and outgoing were
down about 20 db.  Even did a few QSO's on 40 and 20 meters with it
QRP with the K1.
NOT the most effective antenna by any means, but surely a good 
'stealth' antenna for people in stuffy subdivisions with those stupid
covenants!  If I were going to make it a permanent installation
I'd use some single conductor #14 solid insulated wire from Home Depot
for protection against breakage.  Any "Nosy Neighborhood Association"
idiot snoop could be told it was a wire to keep dogs off your lawn,
or to keep you dog in your yard with a special collar.
Such an antenna would be a whole lot better than a short loaded whip 
or some other less desirable rigup.
73,

Sandy W5TVW
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stuart Rohre" <rohre at arlut.utexas.edu>
To: "Ron D'Eau Claire" <rondec at easystreet.com>; "elecraft" <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2006 11:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Underground Antennas (WAS: Ham Ingenuity)


| Hee, hee.  Bet you did not expect someone to report they had experience with 
| underwater antennas, but I have been on an experimental project to put the 
| Rogers "FLEX" Folded Conical Helical HF antenna on a submerged vessel. 
| (Written up in IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation)
| 
| Of course, it was not used while submerged.
| 
| I also had some HF antennas on ocean buoys that wash over pretty regularly 
| in a high sea, so it is operated underwater part of the time.  Signal drops 
| as you would expect.  At 5 watts power, they were not going to work well 
| when in washover.  SWR goes crazy, but they right themselves pretty quick 
| and that is what foldback SWR protection is for.  Rig was FT 5 watter.
| 
| -Stuart
| K5KVH 
| 
| 
| 
| _______________________________________________
| Elecraft mailing list
| Post to: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
| You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
| Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
|  http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft    
| 
| Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
| Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
| 
| 
| 
| -- 
| No virus found in this incoming message.
| Checked by AVG Free Edition.
| Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.3.0/290 - Release Date: 3/23/2006
| 
|