Homebrew Portable HF Antenna
As I am restricted to loft aerials at home (a modern house with restrictive covenants preventing external antennae), I decided to put together a portable vertical antenna which I can either use /P or temporarily erect in the garden and take down when not in use. Ideally, it would be low cost, and also allow me to operate on some of the bands not covered by my fan dipole in the loft space. The mounting arrangement I went for consists of an old wing mirror mount fitted to a section of old tent pole as an earth spike. On top of the mirror mount is the top section of an old discone antenna that I had previously drilled out to take an SO-239 barrel with the intension of using it as a ground plane kit for mobile antennae. I never throw anything out so it came in handy as an easy way to connect counterpoise wires. I initially used 3 counterpoise wires, cut to roughly 1/4 wave on 12m, 15m and 20m. The top section of the antenna was based around an adjustable ...