Well the home is gone and along with it the varied antenna erection freedoms of home ownership and a supportive community. Yesterday, I visited my soon to be lived in Cottage in Clearlake. It was actually only the second time I saw the property in its entirety… As the day progressed I found myself with mixed feelings or potential and despair. What are the ham radio pros and cons?
Potential
There are trees… some are even on the back lot that the property owner stated I will have unfettered access to. It was only a few moments before I targeted two wire potentials. One would be a simple delta loop like configuration extending upward into a very high tree crotch, the other would be a flat-top… maybe 100 feet long, 50 feet high, that I could feed with open-wire transmission line. The delta configuration requires a monkey to get a pulley way up there… while the flat top requires two monkeys! While I may only be approaching 60, the thought of falling is a big sacrifice… even for this hobby. I would have to approach the trees with some sort of launcher to get rope where I need it. Too much sky clutter to use the old string and weight toss plans of past years.
As I find myself wander about most all the HF bands, I find myself leaning towards open-wire feeder with either wire antennas. I have everything that I need… well maybe not… double-Dacron guy rope?? Humm, need more either way, But I do have plenty of wire, insulators and even enough 450-ohm ladder line.
Now to bring the future transmission line(s) into the second bedroom that is destined to hold the new shack and just about everything else hobby related from my 2000 sq ft home (I’m a tinkerer so there is a lot of everything else).
I picked this particular room for my hobby room as it has a convenient window facing the back lot. The property owners do not want any holes in the cottage whatsoever so my approach will be to add a bulkhead for cable entry between the room’s window sill and the lower sash window frame. Add some insulation… a chunk of wood to prevent outside access… and I have obtained a convenient hole-less access point. What I didn’t know was that the neighboring tenant (my cottage and their’s share most of one wall and the entire back yard) added their own tall wire fence to create a large dog pen for their two cat-maiming K-9s. That last comment refers to my own pet ownership that forced me to cough up a further $800 pet deposit. The convenient-to-the-neighbors’ dog fence actually consumes my entire back area as well as there own entirely ending the notion of unfettered access. It also allowed these two very large boys easy access to my window as the back of the cottage is partially unexposed. Needless to say there have been a number of back and forth conversations regarding the non-disclosed fence and moving it. Promises have been made but action is in the wind until truly performed. Sad to say that one of the issues of renting again is that you now have a decision making partner in nearly everything you do… the property owner. They are a nice older couple and want nothing more than to cooperate. However at the moment they are still confusing Amateur Radio with CB, etc. Once the fence is moved the REAL work begins. The wire antennas are only meant as temporary solutions… what were my real plans and are they doable? – KG6TT