In another post found here http://www.part15.us/node/3112 about carrier current, i mentioned the flag pole on the front porch. I have used it before as an FM antenna.
In another post found here http://www.part15.us/node/3112 about carrier current, i mentioned the flag pole on the front porch. I have used it before as an FM antenna.
Well for the fun of it i connected it to the Ramsey FM 25B once more, using a piece of RG-6 left over from the old cable runs removed from my home after new lines were installed. It works pretty well, the results aren’t stellar but it is indeed working.
There are several places my signal wont reach using the indoor whip , but the outdoor flag pole antenna fills in most of those dead spots and reduced noise heard usually from reflections caused by all the metal around the park.
I wound 2 turns of the cable in a loop and tied that together with zip ties, a make shift balun.
Now the only question i have is this, what to do with the shield. It was not connected to any ground nor was there a wire attached to it. I just left it bare.
Should i add some wire to the shield as long as the flag pole or leave it alone? Seems to me it would add undesired length to the antenna, but then again it wouldn’t be a dipole without the extra element (wire)?
Any suggestions??
Math is not my second language
I forgot to mention, the flag pole is 5 feet in length.
468 devided by 105.3 mhz = 44.4 feet total making each side of the dipole 2.22 feet
Masts High
The flag pole you have is probably mounted at an angle, perhaps 45-degrees, and if you added an equal length of wire to the shield it would not be able to follow the line of the same angle because of the porch or wall, so you’d have a “V” formation. But other than mentioning that, I do not know if that would add or detract from your outreach.
Your play on words, “Un-Jolly Roger,” is very good.
Saluting the flag(pole)
Excellent idea! But with antenna height being so important on FM, is there a reason why you don’t just put a dipole or a groud plane up as high as you can? I’m assuming it’s an HOA problem or something. Anyway, regarding the flagpole, “nothing ventured nothing gained”, so go ahead and put the extra wire on & see what it does. You’re certainly not going to blow up anything. Let us know how wire-off compares to wire-on. Thanks!
I have too many irons in the fire
I have a few other projects i have to get done before i can get back to playing with the flag pole antenna. The coverage is indeed better with the flag pole even if it is only 4 feet off the ground.
To answer rlkocher ‘s question,
only one thing keeps me from raising a dipole or ground plane up high, insane park restrictions.
The mobile home park has a height limit on antenna’s. Which is: all antennas must not be higher than 3 feet above the mobile home.
But before i build another dipole i thought it would be interesting to see what the aluminum flag pole would do. If i do build a dipole in the near future, i think instead of mounting it on the porch, i will mount it on the tongue or trailer hitch located on the Eastern end of the house where the signal would cover the park more evenly or at least i think it will.
A couple years ago, i had plans to build a 3 meter AM antenna with a bottom loaded coil and the ground attached to the frame of the home.
It seemed like a good idea until real logic took over and i realized that my home is 16 x 80 mobile which means the frame i was going to use as a ground would have possibly violated the 3 meter rule.
For now, i will be working on the more important projects… once those are out of the way the i can get started on a dipole for the fm.
A picture is worth how much?
Just wanted to give you some perspective on how the flag pole antenna is mounted on our porch here. Later when i get some time, i will make a video so you can hear and see the differences in coverage from the whip inside the house to the flag pole on the porch.
http://www.radiodizzy.org/cam_2.jpg
Good to See
Seeing the flagpole makes a very good difference in realizing that it projects into a large open area. Will be curious about your video demonstration.