RW> EH>> I wish I had some trees on my property. All I have a a bunch of
RW> EH>> shrubs. The nice tall Doug Firs and Hemlocks are on my neighbors'
RW> EH>> properties.

RW> RW> YEp, they'd be good for antennas. I've got a couple nice
RW> RW> oaks around here. One at the back corner of the lot anchors one end of
RW> RW> the 80 meter dipole. GOes to the other end.
RW>

RW>EH> The electrical service comes in from the front for me...
RW>EH> fortunately. It still sucks that I have all that room in my back
RW>EH> yard and nothing to hamg an antenna on.

RW>Yah that's a bummer.  Maybe some stakes, you could always do the inverted ve
RW>thing with stakes for the ends possibly.  I would if my electrical service
RW>didn't come in in such an
RW>awkward  manner in the rear of my place.

Richard and Ed,

I just wanted to insert a Antenna idea to Ed.

The Metal Slinkys can be used as an Antenna.

A long time ago I read a story in a Ham Magazine about making an Antenna
using four Slinkys for 80 Meters.

I have mine in my attic.

My house is about forty feet wide and has a Gable Roof.

I soldered the ends of two of the Slinkys together, and did the same for
the other two.

For the coax connection in the middle, I sawed out three pieces of
Plexiglass, I made Square and slightly larger than the Diameter of the
Slinkys so I could put them together with 8-32 (eight-thirty two) Nuts
and Bolts.

Solder the Center Conductor of 72 Ohm Co-ax to one of the Slinky sets,
and the Shield to the other set.

To make the "Slinky sandwich" I put one rung of the Slinky set between
pieces number one and number two.

I did the same with the second Slinky set, between pieces number two and
number three.

That was the way I did it to keep the two sets from touching each other
in the middle of the Dipole, You might have a better way, Ed.

I would guess a Slinky Dipole using only two Slinkys would work for you
on Forty Meters, I've never tried that.

My Eighty Meter Slinky Dipole is strung in my Attic.

I want to tell You about my Twenty Meter Inverted Vee Antenna also.

I mounted the Center Insulator by driving a Nail on the side of the
house, just under the Roof, and tieing it to the nail with some
Synthetic Cord (String).

I used 14 Gauge Solid Enameled Antenna Wire, and put End Insulators on
each end of the Inverted Vee.

On one leg I used some more of the Synthetic Cord and tiee it to the top
of the Chain Link Fence, in front of my home.

For the back leg I had to reach around my Brick Home to tie the Cord to
the Drain Pipe from the Gutter.

I used several Half Knots (also known as Clove Hitches) when I fastened
each Leg of the Antenna down.

Since I had to string the Cord around the Brick Corner of the Back of my
Home, I used some Insulated Electrical Spaghetti, You Know, the stuff
that G-C sold way back in the 1960's, that wholesale Radio parts
stores carried.

I have had an Assorted Bundle of Spaghetti in my shop bench for ages
and I don't know if it is avaliable anymore.

It might be that Radio Shack sells an bundle of it.

I just got finished roaming through the old 2002 Radio Shack Catalog and
the only thing I see that looks like what I call "Spaghetti Tubing" is
on Page 232, It is "Heat-Shrink Tubing".

The item marked (12) at the bottom right of the page, Catalog Number
278-1627 sold for $1.99 U.S. back then.

I would think Heat-Shrink Tubing wouldn't work as good as what I used,
because it would probably "Shrink Up" in Summer Time heat and not allow
the Cord to slide back and forth in the tubing.

HTH,  73   de W9ODR     -.-


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