[Today’s run: 6.5 miles]
This is the project of putting CableTV 75-ohm hardline out to the tower and up to my 2-meter band yagi for VHF SSB/CW.
My shipment of connectors and parts arrived today. I spent some time today making a flexible jumper to go between the end of the hardline on the tower up to the antenna. This small section needs to be flexible so that it can move around when the antenna mast rotates to point the antenna in various directions.
I was thinking I needed a BNC connector on the antenna end and a UHF connector on the feedline end. But I got out some binoculars this afternoon and looked it over from the ground. It is a UHF connector at the antenna end also. That makes a difference. I have made my jumper from a fairly good looking piece of RG-6 cable that I took off the side of the house, part of an old dish-TV installation. I was thinking I’d need RG-59 or RG-6 in order to accommodate a BNC. But now I see that I could use some RG-11 or other larger cable and do a better job.
But I don’t have any of that lying around. So I’m going to go forward with the RG-6 and maybe watch for some RG-11 or similar 75 ohm cable at the next hamfest I go to.
With those connectors in hand I now have everything I need to install the hardline. The plan (so far) is
- Go up the tower and bring down the VHF antenna
- Put connectors on the full length hardline and jumper
- Adjust the VHF antenna with the hardline and jumper so as to get lowest SWR
- Put the antenna back up on the tower
- Run the full feedline up the tower
- Attach antenna and feedline using the jumper (done on tower after this)
- Cut it off at the first pole for a lightning arrestor
- Make the run back to the house from that point
Maybe, if I get very ambitious, I’ll go up the tower tomorrow and get that antenna down.