Rain Gutter Ham Antenna

Below is a photo of a simple effective and entirely covert hf antenna.

Rain gutter ham antenna.

Economics and efficiency are the main objectives. Over a quarter wavelength for 40 meters and almost a half wave for 30 meters. Attached the feed line to a downspout and coax shield to grounding. 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.

Unlike gregg s gutter antenna the spout and long horizontal section were made from plastic. Using the terms rain gutter and efficiency are a contridiction. That article found its way into several ham radio publications and newsletters. Most of the original article is still relevant but i have.

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. I did use rain gutter as antenna and water pipe as ground it worked great from 160 mtr to 10 mtr. 500 hz or narrower cw filter really takes away many noises compare to wider setting of ssb voice. Here s a rain gutter for ya.

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. 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. I have a couple of questions for anyone with expertise or experience in using a rain gutter as an antenna. I had great time.

It is 80 feet long and off center fed as a windom with a single wire lead in to a tuner. 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. Rain gutters are a compromise at best.

Also less interference is created to neighbour s tv etc from cw than ssb. A ham here in hawaii k0gvs ben has a hexagonal house and of course it has a rain gutter all the way around. I originally did a write up on it in 1994. Trying to drive the gutter itself as an antenna is really asking for trouble.

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. 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. Including the feed wire into the shack the total length is in the neighborhood of 42 feet. However i recommend cw for such installations.