Slinky spring HF antenna

martinedwards

Always fancied a go at this....

Basically, it's a random wire, end fed through a 4:1 balun.

The random wire is three slinkies soldered together supported on a fibreglass fishing pole.

martinedwards

the bottom pics are the web SDR in Twente NL. http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/

sending from just north east of Belfast

1st pic is the slinky

2nd pic (with no signal!) is 20 seconds later using a commercial vertical.

very temporary set up, just to test.

Next test will be using para cord instead of the fishing pole for a horizontal installation.....

Ger Roe

Cool design ... It reminded me of when the 300ft lattice tower mast on the Radio Caroline ship, Ross Rvenge, collapsed in 1987. They tried to replace it with a 135ft Carbon Fibre whip (manufactured by Valcom), that broke at the base, as soon as it was mounted on the deck. Despite being told that it would withstand being blown about on the north sea, it failed instantly.

This video captures the moment that the original tower (tallest ever on a ship), came down in a heavy storm.

https://www.rossrevengeplans.co.uk/About/Current/mast_collapse.html

martinedwards

Oh I'm not leaving this up where there is even the thought of a hint of a gust of wind!

martinedwards