Most of the original article is still relevant but i have.
Rain gutter ham antenna.
I had great time.
Below is a photo of a simple effective and entirely covert hf antenna.
I built variations of this antenna when i lived in several rental homes on hawaii island shortly after getting my novice class amateur radio license back in 1977.
However i recommend cw for such installations.
I have a couple of questions for anyone with expertise or experience in using a rain gutter as an antenna.
A ham here in hawaii k0gvs ben has a hexagonal house and of course it has a rain gutter all the way around.
I looked at several possible solutions including one developed by my good ham friend friday lunch buddy stealth antenna compatriot long time dxer celebrated author and renowned physicist yardley beers wøjf who did all the complex mathematical calculations on my rain gutter antenna and offered me a coil design that could be added to the feedpoint in order for it to load on 160 meters.
Trying to drive the gutter itself as an antenna is really asking for trouble.
Well he feeds it with a 12 foot peice of wire hooked to one of the down spouts and on 40 meters running 3 5 watts he is s9 5 here over 300 miles away.
Having limited space for wire antennas elected to use one of the house rain gutters for low hf 40 80 160 the gutter is 67 long continuous aluminum.
Also less interference is created to neighbour s tv etc from cw than ssb.
The downspout has a vertical run of approximately 16 feet connecting the horizontal rain gutter which is about 16 feet long across the front of the house.
Unlike gregg s gutter antenna the spout and long horizontal section were made from plastic.
500 hz or narrower cw filter really takes away many noises compare to wider setting of ssb voice.
It is the rain gutter along the front of a house.
Over a quarter wavelength for 40 meters and almost a half wave for 30 meters.
It is 80 feet long and off center fed as a windom with a single wire lead in to a tuner.
Here s a rain gutter for ya.
And weaker signal from such set up can be heard better in cw.
Using the terms rain gutter and efficiency are a contridiction.
Rain gutters are a compromise at best.
The rain gutter is fairly new about 3 years old.
A ham friend of mine recently asked me for the details of how i use my rain gutter and downspout as an antenna.
That article found its way into several ham radio publications and newsletters.
I originally did a write up on it in 1994.
Rain gutters are notorious for having poor electrical contacts at joints that act as diodes and cause severe tvi merely because an antenna is near them.
Rain gutter antennas amaze me too.
Attached the feed line to a downspout and coax shield to grounding.
