I saw something that claimed you could clip it to your gutters and have an HF antenna. Does this really work? How?
I’m in CA we don’t do rain here so I don’t have gutters but I do have a beautiful new 14’x30’ aluminum patio cover? Would be amazing if I could make that work somehow
Two thoughts on this:
Regarding the aluminum patio cover: It would probably make a great ground plane for a mobile antenna if you could get away with a few feet of height for the vertical. Usually if such modest set up in the back yard and can’t be seen from the street, a few feet won’t bother most HOAs. I can’t speak to its effectiveness with just the advertised gutter system connected to it.
I first tried a gutter antenna set up a few months ago for SWL-only, no transmission. They tend to be somewhat noiser than a standard end fed dipole or vertical. But I can’t speak to the effectiveness of the item you referred to.
My example experience is an outlier in that my gutters are attached to galvanized steel flashing that extends about 1,000 feet around a four unit building. If I were to broadcast on such system I would probably be on the bad side of my neighbors from my interference with their electronic goodies.
If the seller has some sort of return policy if it doesn’t work as you expect, even if there is something like a 15% restocking fee, it might be fun and worthwhile to try it.
Be sure to let us know here what your experience is if you do try it out.
Jerry
KK4GMU
Thanks, I’m going to try this. I assume it will work because my mobile in the driveway gets decent reception. I should be able to get what I need on Amazon and leverage their awesome return policy.
I wonder how it would work connected to the fence posts out back. I’d have an antenna the size of half the sub.
I thought about hiding a dipole along my fence but 6 feet off the ground probably won’t cut it.