? ?? RAIN? GUTTER? ANTENNA?? on upper HF bands
I've been experimenting with a variety of HF
antennas here at my new QTH at Crosslands Retirement Community
in Kennett Square, PA.
I have some space limitations, but live on the
first floor of a two-story apartment building.
Lots of RFI from everywhere inside the
building? - S9 on 80m and 40m, less noise on 20 and 10m.
I have a? 140 ft end-fed wire with a 49:1 UNUN?
which tunes up easily on 80/40/20m? and not so well on
17m/15m/10m.
This end-fed is horizontal, low to the ground
(winds among trees) and is good for high-angle NVIS radiation
on 80/40m.
I use it on the PA NBEMS net (3583 kHz) and on
the Mid-Atlantic NBEMS net (7068 kHz)
I'd like to get up something with a? low-angle?
signal for DX on? 20/17/10m bands.??
But can I keep any HF antenna "hidden"?
What I am now trying is the aluminum? rain gutter? for our
building, vertical for about 20 ft, makes a right angle turn
and runs horizontally for about 20 ft.
The coax attaches at the base of the gutter,
near ground, to a 9:1 UNUN with a sheet metal screw into the
gutter for a decent electrical connection.
So overall, about 40 ft of thick (painted)
aluminum gutter radiating element - in the shape of an
inverted? L and? not resonant on any ham band.
Lowest SWR around? 16 MHz.? It looks like it
might work out on the 30m band as well (10.1 MHz).
I have a Palomar Engineering? (500W rating)?
9:1? UNUN on? 50 ft RG8X? coax into the shack (closet).
I have one counterpoise wire about 20 ft long
attached to the UNUN?? ground terminal.
Then a good manual tuner in the shack to an HF
rig for very low SWR on any band.
Here is what I see on my Nano VNA from 10 - 30
MHz: ? not bad SWR? (under 2.5:1) ? in the shack on
20/17/15/10 meters.
I'll give it a try over the next few weeks and
see if the local noise is more/less on these bands, compared
to my 140 ft end-fed.
I'm often running QRP on these bands, CW and
digi modes only.
de k3eui? barry
???? 
Dave