So.. I live in an HOA. For those of you that are into ham, the letter HOA probably make you dry heave a bit. My HOA is pretty relaxed, and to be fair – If I really wanted to, or had the time – I could probably install a dipole somewhere inconspicuous but I like a good challenge.
The challenge : Setup a multi-band HF antenna that no one will notice.
There are lots of people all over the internet that have done this before. Loaded up a run of gutter with varying results. My results have been very OK. I have made a ton of QSO’s but the radiating element (the gutter) is super directional.
Here is the bill of material I used to setup my low key gutter antenna;
1. An LDG remote antenna tuner : DXEngineering Product Link
You will see lots of other guides that have you buying baluns, that will work too – but this seems to work better and also provides a way to more efficiently tune the antenna to protect your radio from high SWR. NOTE : If you use a remote tuner and your radio has a built in tuner, you will no longer need to use the built in tuner. NOTE : A built in tuner will NOT suffice, it may work – but you will have a sh!t ton of EMI inside the shack. No good. Stop being cheap, buy the LDG.
2. Coax of course (And PL259 connectors if your making your cables)
3. Grounding rods (1 for the antenna system, 1 for a bleed off point, and a connection point to your home/shack ground to link the ground systems)
4. Some ring terminal ends
5. A stainless steel bolt, 2 locking washers, a nut, and a wing nut for the bolt.
6. A bunch of random length counterpoise for the ground field of the antenna system.
7. A ground rod clamp : https://www.amazon.com/Zareba-GRC-Z-Ground-Rod-Clamp/dp/B007TX1CJE
Side note : Lighting protection/arrestor. Im not going to get into how to protect your house from burning down, your radio from exploding, etc, etc – should your antenna/gutters get struck by lightning. But I will say, you should look into lightning projection to be safe. It’s important. Do it….
Step one: Expectations
You’re going to be using a RAIN GUTTER for an antenna. I state that to set your expectations at a reasonable level. You probably will make some great QSO’s, get a buzz at telling people about your antenna, and you’ll probably also have some “unique to your setup” experiences. Heck – it may be perfect and perform great! But in reality, this is a compromise antenna that will get you on the air, but not perfectly. Some people may even give you some sh!t about it, but don’t listen to them – you’re about to have some fun and maybe even learn a thing or two along the way.
Step one : (For real this time) Continuity
Like any electrical system, its important that your gutter be electrically ready for its transformation from boring old water guiding system – to an awesome antenna system that will get you on the air! This means that we need to make sure each joint has a good connection to its neighbor. If you look at your gutters, you will probably see several sections (especially on the down spout) connected together from when the builder slapped your house together. We need to electrically bond those sections a little bettererer. There are many ways to do this – but the way I recommend is to:
1. Separate the sections, sand off a little paint and reconnect the sections
2. Get some aluminum self tapping gutter screws and drive some screws in at the joints to further bond the materials.
3. Another step that I myself did’nt do, but also would work – would be to create jumper wires (a bit of wire with terminal loops on each end) that you can use to bride the sections. Simply screw one side into the first section, and the second into the next electrically negating the fittings of each joint.
Step two : Are your gutters grounded?
If your gutters come in contact to the ground, are CLOSE to the ground (like an inch or two away), or something along those lines – you may want to insulate the gutters from the ground by removing some of the bottom section and replacing it with a rubber water guide that they sell at lowes or home depot like this :
Step three : Run your coax.
This is probably the simplest part. Figure out where you want to use your radio, and run your coax to a downspout thats connected to the longest run of gutter you can get at. You want to select a run of gutter that is as straight as possible.
Step four : find a good location to mount the remote antenna tuner that is as close as possible to the down spout
Step five : the ground rod. This is an important part.
From the radios perspective : The ground rod should be 8 feet long and driven into the ground VERY close to the tuner. Once thats done, connect the GROUND nut on the bottom of the tuner to the ground rod.
From an electrical point of view : Having separated electrical grounds in a home can be dangerous. You should do some research and talk to an electrician to make sure your final setup is safe. What I did was purchase a SECOND ground rod, and attach it to a water spigot that was close to the down spout, and then link it with some heavy gauge copper wire to the first ground rod at the tuner. The reason for the second ground rod is to bleed off any RF from appliances in the house that may now use your linked ground system for its ground. Again – talk to an electrician to be safe. (Covering my ass).
Step six : Counterpoise
Measure out a bunch of wires at 1/4 wave lengths for each band you want to operate, attach them to the top of the ground rod using the mechanical attachment in the parts list and lay them out on your lawn (straight, but fanning out)(I buried mine about 1/4 inch using a driveway edger, but you could do the same with a shovel.
Step seven : The gutter connection
The bolts, washers, etc that were listed above. This is where they are used. Use a drill and make a hole at the end of your gutter close enough to the opening that you will be able to get your hand up in there and some tools, to tighten the bolt. Reach your hand up inside that bad boy, and slip the bolt through the hold so the head is on the INSIDE of the gutter and the bolt shaft is now sticking out for the world to view. There should be 1 locking/biting washer on BOTH sides of the gutter to make good connection to the gutter on the inside and outside. Put your nut on the bolt and crank that bad boy down (Tighten it good). Here is a picture of mine, with the coax connected to it:
Step 8 : Coax jumper
You have to create a coax jumper (Small length of coax) that will go from the antenna tuner over to the lug you just installed in your gutter. The one end needs a PL259 connection on it – the other needs a ring terminal on it that will allow you to connect the center conductor to the lug you installed in the prior step. NOTE : at the down spout side of the coax, the ground shield on the coax can be ignored/cut back. All thats needed is the center conductor.
What you should end up with :
(still in draft)
