Ham radio - suitable aerials for narrow boat

[bassplayer]

I'm hoping to pass my amateur radio exam soon and was wondering what aerial set-up would work best for HF and 2 meters on a 58ft narrow boat.

 

Thanks John for your reply regarding the Windom setup for HF. Would that be better than just connecting the ground to the boat (ground plane) and running the centre all the way down the boat?

[Keeping Up]

When I, & the club I belonged to, used to work 2m & HF from the boat we found that the usual mobile setup from the car worked as well as anything else. We attached it to the handrail with a scaffold clamp which was loose enough that it could be pulled down quickly for each bridge; somebody was permanently stationed on the roof and when he yelled "bridge" the operator immediately stopped talking. He pulled the aerial down and lay flat, then shouted "up" when he had raised it and let go so the operator could continue. We even came second in a 40m contest that way.

[bassplayer]

When I, & the club I belonged to, used to work 2m & HF from the boat we found that the usual mobile setup from the car worked as well as anything else. We attached it to the handrail with a scaffold clamp which was loose enough that it could be pulled down quickly for each bridge; somebody was permanently stationed on the roof and when he yelled "bridge" the operator immediately stopped talking. He pulled the aerial down and lay flat, then shouted "up" when he had raised it and let go so the operator could continue. We even came second in a 40m contest that way.

LOL....Do you remember which type of HF aerial was used? I'm planning to use a standard car mag mount antenna for 2m but I thought a long horizontal wire arrangement would work better for HF (and would be bridge friendly!)

[Alan de Enfield]

Will you be cruising ?

 

Whatever antenna you have you wil need easy assembly / disassemby and storage. I'd suggest that for the 2m band (depending on what you want to achieve) a very simple mag-mount dipole would be sufficient - example

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HAM-2-METER-MOBILE-ANTENNA-1-4-Wave-Whip-With-3-Mag-Mount-WITH-COAX-PL259-/321064508646

 

You will want to trim the aerial down to about 495 mm but you can tune it via the SWR

 

If you are using Yagi's your boat will look like "Daventry"

 

I use the same aerial for my Marine VHF and have trimmed the length to 450mm.

Its ideal - when on the canals it just fits away in the engine hole, when on the rivers, just lift it out and 'stick' it on the roof.

The transceiver simply plugs into a 'cigarette lighter socket' by the helm.

 

Edit - looks like we are on the same 'wavelength' - you posted whilst my fat fingers made a hash of the keyboard

Edited May 14, 2014 by Alan de Enfield

[John V]

Blimey you're both faster than me!....

 

Used to find that the ATU and the SWR was more important than the style of HF aerial...Friend of mine used to swear he got better QSA with a base loaded coathanger than with a proprietry whip.

 

Was forced on some ships to use an end fed long wire as that was what was provided, but when possible I used to change it for a Windom cut for a particular band. Its a simple aerial but I found it effective. Your problem will be getting it high enough...but goodness knows how it will load that close to the ground

It used to bug me that I had to provide professional, reliable, long distance communication with worse equipment than I had in my bedroom at home. We had no dedicated ATU or SWR meters and the aerials were lumps of wire strung wherever they would fit. Amazing how far we got though

 

edit for very fat fingers

Edited May 14, 2014 by John V

[Nickhlx]

I have a SO-239 fitted in the roof just forward of the rear hatch and use that for various aerials from a 2M 7/8, a 6M 1/4 wave and a 10M 1/4 wave, usually all when stationary, as I have to do the "driving".

 

 

For HF, I use a vertical with a Roach pole, tape a bit of wire to it and it sits in a bucket on the semi-trad rear seat, and pokes out of the rear cratch. It is tuned with an SGC-230 auto tuner which sits on the roof on one side of the rear hatch, and is earthed to a nearby suitable door-hinge bolt. I find that works stunningly well..

 

Currently playing with horizontal loops for NVIS and so far am amazed how well they work so close to the ground

 

Nick

Edited May 14, 2014 by Nickhlx

[NB Lola]

Go to an army navy store and buy a retractable 12 metre mast with an anttenuator

[John V]

 

For HF, I use a vertical with a Roach pole, tape a bit of wire to it and it sits in a bucket on the semi-trad rear seat, and pokes out of the rear cratch. It is tuned with an SGC-230 auto tuner which sits on the roof on one side of the rear hatch, and is earthed to a nearby suitable door-hinge bolt. I find that works stunningly well.

Nick

 

Your roach pole sounds ideal, I used to have something similar I could set up in the front garden and then take down quickly so as not to annoy the neighbours.

3 bamboo poles covered in cooking foil, earth spikes on bottom, one base loaded as reflector one as director and the centre one as active, with string between them to keep spacing correct, used to get great results on 40

Go to an army navy store and buy a retractable 12 metre mast with an anttenuator

 

that's cheating......its much more fun making your own

 

 

Incidentally does anyone know if the old million miles per watt club is still going?

Edited May 14, 2014 by John V

[by'eck]

Assuming you have a steel boat the ground plane issues are already sorted floating as it is on water.

 

A good antenna tuning unit (ATU) will match a blunt axe to your SSB power amp, so a bit of wet string at least 23 feet long running along the length of your boat should provide a suitable end fed. Needs to be well clear of the roof though, so some form of collapsing when not in use would be needed.

[bassplayer]

Assuming you have a steel boat the ground plane issues are already sorted floating as it is on water.

 

A good antenna tuning unit (ATU) will match a blunt axe to your SSB power amp, so a bit of wet string at least 23 feet long running along the length of your boat should provide a suitable end fed. Needs to be well clear of the roof though, so some form of collapsing when not in use would be needed.

Thanks, that was my plan...just wondered if someone could come up with a better idea...I guess bridge friendly is inversely proportional to gain friendly...

[alan_fincher]

.

Edited May 14, 2014 by alan_fincher

[Nickhlx]

For aerial bits and much more ..

 

Martin Lynch and sons - Chertsey

Nevada Electronics - Porsmouth

Waters and Stanton - Hockley, Essex

Radioworld - Cannock

Moonraker - Woburn Sands

Haydon Comms - Aveley

 

Nick

[cotswoldsman]

3 days ago 14 May would have been Tony Hancock's 90th birthday. There was a sort of reenactment of the famous "RADIO HAM" episode outside the house where he was born in Hall Green, Birmingham it made me revisit the episode again what a great comedian he was.

Hancock / The Radio Ham 1/3:

[EU_Cruiser]

On the boat I'm about to try glass mount antennas for VHF comms. Neat, no holes and pretty effective. I used one on a 1983 Land Cruiser SWB with a piece of tuned. sheathed copper wire running along the rain gutter for a trip of 6,500kms across SA and Namibia and had as good comms as anyone else on the trip. Not that I would use a piece of wire on the boat - it was just an experiment; the supplied whip I'm sure will work fine.

 

Next year I will take an HF set and will either use a BuddiPole or a Little Tarheel II. I agree much more fun making an antenna but when the boat is 7K miles away and time is limited, the next best thing is to go commercial.

[Dream On]

Hello,

I read with great interests your messages about antennas.

As operator too (F5MQU, ex.DA1HA), I'd installed the HF on my boat.

I still have questions about ground and I did not understand all your explanations: (

I'm a fan of wire antennas, such as G5RV, but I wonder how you enter the coaxial cable on the boat ?

And have you pictures of your installations?

Hope to read you,

[16csvt]

Dear OM

 

I think over the years we have all put strange antenna arrangements on the car, the house, the boat, the dog's kennel and all sorts of places.

Soon you'll want an antenna available for any band, a yagi available (but flat on the roof for storage), and a converted satelite dish for 'long range' free wifi. The harder the bug bites, the worse / better (dependant on one's perspective) it gets.

We've all done it to a greater or lesser extent.

Please forgive me if I am getting a vision of what used to be known as a Russian 'Spy Trawler'

Good luck with the exam.....is it still C+G 765 parts A and B ????

73 de G8NTJ

[John V]

F5MQU de G3UTB

 

What sort of coax were you feeding a wire aerial with? I am trying to remember work I did on aerials nearly 50 years ago but I am sure that the impedance of most wire aerials is in the hundreds of ohms. Do you feed coax to a balun or base loading device ?

if you are not then why not just use a simple feedthrough insulator with the atu on the inside of the hull ?

 

73's

[Dream On]

G8NTJ from F5MQU

 

Thanks for your answer.

Yes, the yagi antennas are good but I do not want to turn my narrowboat spy ship: D

And for the exam, I'm not sure how it has evolved. I got mine for twenty years

73's

Edited June 4, 2014 by Dream On

[Nickhlx]

For temporary arrangements, you could pass a coax through a roof vent... need to make sure it doesn't chafe through though as that could cause potentially serious problems if there was a faulty earth and the coax was trying to earth the e.g. starter motor through the vent

 

Nick

[Dream On]

G3UTB from F5MQU

 

Thanks for you answer too

 

The G5RV is fed by a twin lead 450 ohms with a length of 10.35 m. Then, there is a balun 1/1 and a 50 ohm coaxial cable. It is a coaxial cable, usually shielded and its size is 11mm (0.43 inch).

 

73's

[bassplayer]

Just passed my Amateur Radio foundation exam last night....hooray!

 

Hopefully I'll make contact with some of you in the future....

[Nickhlx]

Well done !

 

If you want a sked before you get mobile on the water, let us know - I am sure there will be a few who would be pleased to have a chat...

 

 

Anyone interested in a ? weekly sked now winter is approaching ? Not necessarily from your boat, but perhaps boating orientated ?

 

Suggestions for times / days of week ?

 

Nick

[bassplayer]

Well done !

 

If you want a sked before you get mobile on the water, let us know - I am sure there will be a few who would be pleased to have a chat...

 

 

Anyone interested in a ? weekly sked now winter is approaching ? Not necessarily from your boat, but perhaps boating orientated ?

 

Suggestions for times / days of week ?

 

Nick

Thanks Nick. The rig is already on the boat as I live on it. What band do you normally use for the sked?

[Nickhlx]

Hi,

 

OK re the set up already in place ...

 

There is no regular sked ( that I know of) in place at the moment..

 

I was asking if there were enough people interested to have a regular sked, and when the majority would find it best for them to be able to come up on the air ...

 

I would guess 40M would be a good compromise for most people, and probably evenings or a Sunday ?

 

Nick

[bassplayer]

Hi,

 

OK re the set up already in place ...

 

There is no regular sked ( that I know of) in place at the moment..

 

I was asking if there were enough people interested to have a regular sked, and when the majority would find it best for them to be able to come up on the air ...

 

I would guess 40M would be a good compromise for most people, and probably evenings or a Sunday ?

 

Nick

It will probably take a couple of weeks to actually receive the licence and callsign...but most evenings and Sundays are Ok with me...