ft-950 and Radio Oasis G5RV/MINI or Junior
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| Apr 11th 2013, 12:51 | |
gkiralyTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
Quick question: I am interested in obtaining an FT-950 and a dipole antenna that would be installed in attic space. I am considering either the Radio Oasis G5RV/Mini or Junior antennas. The mini would be ideal since the clear length available in the attic is 27'. I hear that some people have good experience with this antenna on 20 to 10 mhz. However some people do not. I am wondering if the FT-950 would be able to tune this antenna? I could also install the Junior which is 52' long but than about 12' of the antenna would need to be vertical on both ends... Unfortunately, at this time I cannot install an antenna outside. The attic is also hard to access so anything other than dipoles would be out of the question. I would also prefer horizontal dipoles or flat tops over inverted V setup. Thanks for any input! |
| Apr 11th 2013, 13:35 | |
W1VTSuper Moderator Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
How high is your attic? Horizontally polarized antennas work better than verticals if they are at least a half wavelength above the ground--17ft on 10M, 34ft on 20 meters. Location is a big factor on HF--few of us are lucky enough to live on a hill--many of us live in valleys that compromise propagation--and a hams actually live in dreaded "RF holes." It might be a good idea to invite an experienced ham over to come over and evaluate your situation. Equally important are expectations--casual voice conversations require good signals--few hams are gifted enough to be able to sit back and comfortably listen to a weak signal. But, that same station may be quite useful when used to operate a CW or a digital mode. Zack Lau W1VT ARRL Senior Lab Engineer |
| Apr 12th 2013, 12:39 | |
gkiralyTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
The eve of the attic is at about 37ft height. It is one of those roofs where the roof ridge is parallel with the width of the house and not the length. Measured length is about 27 ft. I am planning to mount the antenna about 2' below the ridge. I can have a 50' antenna installed if it is ok to have about 12' vertical on both sides... I would prefer to install the G5RV/Mini though. Can anyone tell me if the FT950 has a wide enough range antenna tuner to get this 25' or so length antenna to tune from 10 to 20 meters? As I said before it is hard to get up in the attic space and it is also hard to move around up there. |
| Apr 12th 2013, 16:08 | |
W1VTSuper Moderator Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
35' is a good height for an HF antenna on the higher bands. From what I've read, G5RV scaled down to 27' works on just 10 and 20 meters--the SWR is high on 12, 15, and 17 meters. It is difficult to predict exactly what will happen to antennas inside an attic--you typically have nearby electrical wiring which will shift the resonance of antennas. Automatic antenna tuners have become very popular--instead of trying to cut an antenna to a "magic" length that may not exist--you put up the longest straight antenna you can and let the tuner do the rest. Zack Lau W1VT ARRL Senior Lab Engineer Zack Lau W1VT |
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