AMT3000 range check

I watched some of your first video and am delighted by how well your signal travels way out there.

What a nice chunk of land you have to devote to your transmission system.

Later tonight I will watch both videos all the way.

Thanks for posting.

This is what happens when you have plenty of room for a nice ground radial system and clearing. Not sure all the twigs and branches near the system is doing any good, but I would bet it would not hurt if all that was cleaned up.

RFB

I watched most of the first one, and all of the second one. Did enjoy it all, and it looks like you have an ideal installation (as Carl pointed out) with the available land for the transmitter.

Thanks for uploading it, it was nice to see your setup and the realtime results.
But my favorite part was when you introduced your "mobile tuning wagon"... for some reason I got a big kick out of it.

Makes me want to put my antenna down on the ground.

If nothing else, tune-up tweaking would be much easier.

Unfortunately I don't have a big open area to work with.

Hi RFB,

You're absolutely right about the twigs and branches. They're twigs now but they turn into vines in the summer. I noticed a big drop in output when they started climbing up around the coil. I keep the area around the coil clear but my wife likes it when the vines hide the rest. She says it makes it 'less ugly'. Good thing I didn't marry her for her taste in antennas 🙂

Andre

Wait just a minute. Oh, I already said that.

Your wife has a brilliant idea. Or, she gives me a brilliant idea. Think about it. Designer antennas approved by women, then we'd attract women members here at part15.us.

We need design patterns that do not block the signal.

It's an all nighter.

Last year when she asked me how long that 'thing' in the yard would be there, I said about a week,maybe two. She's been very patient so far. When I get going on something, I get somewhat obsessed and she puts up with it. Next time I shop for a new weather proof box for the amt5k, I'll try to find one with integrated hooks for hanging flower baskets ....

Describe to a woman (wife, friend) what the problem is, i.e., "ugly antenna," and ask what it would take to make it look good, being sure to mention that some materials would interfere with the signal.

Someone invented cell phone towers that blend in and look like other things.

THOUGHT: If there is an electrically conductive paint maybe its just a matter of colors.

THOUGHT # 2 : Maybe there's a plant food additive that would make green vines electrical.

Hi, me again,

I'm still here. It's too cold to play outside.

I just want to explain how I set up my ground radials. You don't need to dedicate that much space, except at the beginning. When I started, I just put the wires on top of the lawn, held close to the ground with small bits of bent coat hanger. Yes, for the next few months, I had to tippy-toe in that area and avoid it with the lawn mower. I saw that patch slowly turn into a small wheat field. But after a little while, the lawn has a way to make things disappear. The wires are now weaved into the thin layer of thatch under the lawn and I couldn't pull them out if I tried. That area is now a regular part of the yard and treated like the rest of it. Kids run around on it, I mow it regularly, etc. So the only real dedicated part is the stump holding up the antenna. Although I used 20 foot radials, I heard 10 feet would work well too.

Andre

Awesome video! Absolutely awesome. I too will be posting video of my operation as well in three weeks. Really good seeing your set up Andre. I could hear the basstone in the music over your vehicle's radio. SSTRAN has a neat little unit there, Great fidelity. It's one thing to read a bunch of guys talking about which tx is better blah, blah, blah-but to see an affordable one like yours in action reaaalllly has me re-thinking which ones to order (I'm getting 3 at a time next week). Anyway, hurray for the SSTRAN! Phil should be proud! Sure he is...

Just need to be patient. If you wait long enough, the copper pipe will eventualy turn green 🙂

And now they make fake flowers that you can't tell from real ones. I'm sure they can glue those leaves to green wire.

You're spot on.... You hit the nail right on the head.
That's exactly why I did the video. I'm a huge fan of SSTRAN, I saw/read many opinions and thoughts on the base loaded antenna, many have heard about others getting great range, but I couldn't find anything real or concrete on actual installations.
Although I spent 2-3 hours putting the amt3000 together, the time I spent on the antenna and tuning was easily 10 times that. I get good range now but I'll be the first one to admit, this is not a system I just threw together. Those system probably do exist, this isn't one of them. I just wanted to show that is was possible.

As a matter of fact, when I first powered the transmitter after assembly (same one in the video), with the wire antenna, it got out to about 75 feet, with great sound.
Then just adding the coil between the RF final and wire antenna increased it to 1000 feet. Then came the copper pipe,then ground rods and finally the radials. Then tuning, testing driving, over and over and over. Range slowly increased after every step.

It looks like you could have put the antenna any number of places in that big field, so why did you pick the spot you are using?

Simple, there's a tree stump there to hold the small mast up.
Honest, that's the real reason, really.

I don't think my 'field' is that big. It may be an illusion from the camera angle or the lack of leaves on the trees.
Our house is on a 1 acre lot and my antenna is only about 30 feet from the back property line.