Dear Rhona:
In reading Tims message I forgot to mention that if you doreverse the antenna wires be sure the hanging piece of 26 ft wire does not touch the balcony railing anywhere.
If you can't get it to work don't blame yourself. ?I've never had much luck operating from large buildings in a city. There is just too much electrical noise. But it's always worth a shot.
When I have a balcony railing I clamp a buddistick to it angled out 45 degrees. I either use a counterpoise wire or the railing if it is suitable.?
Have fun!
Eric
Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 25, 2009, at 8:46 AM, Rhona Mahony <
rmahony@...> wrote:
?
I bought a Yaesu FT-817 from HRO in Sunnyvale just before I came to the East Coast. Mike Pechner was there and very kindly gathered up coax cables for me and told me about the LDG Z817 autotuner.
I am in Manhattan, on the Upper East Side. I'm on the 32nd floor of an apartment building very near the East River. I have an open, sweeping view to the north and east, with no intervening buildings higher than 10 stories. I am trying to use the metal balcony as my antenna.
I have a 10-foot coax cable. I attached the core wire of the coax to an alligator clip, then to a big-diameter bare copper wire, which is wrapped around the railing. I attached the copper braided shielding of the coax to a 27-foot length of coated, 26 or 28 gauge wire as a counterpoise. This counterpoise is hanging off the edge of the balcony.
I listened on 40m through 10m at noon on Wednesday. Wow, lots of loud static and whistling. I heard only two intelligible conversations over the backgound noise. I experimented with the IF filter, making it narrower. I also turned on the noise blanker.
Do you have suggestions for corrections to my antenna set-up or settings to engage on the 817? I don't know whether my listening difficulties are an artifact of NYC electrical and RF activity, or my own mistakes. Please, no snickering to my face if I have made dumb newbie mistakes!
Attached is a photo of the connections to this improvised antenna.
Merry Christmas!
~~Rhona
--
Rhona Mahony
rmahony@stanford.edu
