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First foray into HF

Nov 18th 2016, 02:07

KQ7D

Joined: Feb 28th 2016, 07:04
Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 0
After receiving my ticket last February, I'm finally making my first foray into HF.

I've decided upon a Yaesu FT-450D and will pair it with a W5GI "Mystery" antenna. I've got lots of tall Ponderosas and plan to string up this G5RV-similar antenna to them. I plan to affix the feed line (center) of the antenna to a branch about 35 feet up and create an inverted V with the legs at about 30 degrees.

Question- will the tree affect (one way or another) the radio waves (tx or rx) or will I be ok?

Thanks,
AF7XI Doug
Nov 21st 2016, 16:02

W1VT

Super Moderator

Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00
Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 0

You should use insulators at the ends of the dipole and insure that tree branches aren't touching the antenna wires. Even if the wires are insulated you can have capacitive coupling to live tree branches that will affect your signal.

Hams routinely use trees as very cost effective antenna supports.

Zack Lau W1VT
ARRL Senior Lab Engineer

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