Posted: 11/13/2011 5:50:03 AM EDT
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I'm new to HAM but I've got my license and my mobile up and running well. I'm looking at the Comet GP-9 as my home antenna for 2m/70cm use with a mobile radio on a power supply in the house.
My question is, can you have two outputs on the coax that comes into the house? I don't know if you can just use a splitter to accomplish that or if it will cause signal issues. I've got two places I would like to have an output to hook up the radio, one in my office and one in the basement (for bad weather). Is this possible or can you only have one line? As money allows I'll purchase a radio for in the house instead of using my mobile. The base stations I see are HF with VHF/UHF capability. Is there a base station made that only does VHF/UHF that is less expensive or would I be better served just buying another mobile until I get my license for the HF and buying a complete base station? |
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Quoted: I'm new to HAM but I've got my license and my mobile up and running well. I'm looking at the Comet GP-9 as my home antenna for 2m/70cm use with a mobile radio on a power supply in the house. My question is, can you have two outputs on the coax that comes into the house? I don't know if you can just use a splitter to accomplish that or if it will cause signal issues. I've got two places I would like to have an output to hook up the radio, one in my office and one in the basement (for bad weather). Is this possible or can you only have one line? As money allows I'll purchase a radio for in the house instead of using my mobile. The base stations I see are HF with VHF/UHF capability. Is there a base station made that only does VHF/UHF that is less expensive or would I be better served just buying another mobile until I get my license for the HF and buying a complete base station? There are VHF/UHF only base stations, but they're rare and expensive. They're used for weak signal/SSB or satellite communication, not your typical repeater radios. For the price they bring, you'd be better served by one of the Shack In A Box radios. Plus, with having a radio with HF, you'll have more incentive to study up for your General exam.  If you have no interest whatsoever in HF, though, a dualband mobile will work just fine for you as a base radio. |
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If you're asking to have one antenna with two coax inputs from different parts of the house, then no. If you use a splitter or Tee connection near the antenna, and have a radio on one end, but not on the other, the SWR will be a mess. That's exactly what I'm asking, and what I figured. So I'll essentially need 2 antennas to have two coax outputs? |
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Where is your office in relation to your desired basement radio hookup?
You could put a cable switch in the basement and have one hookup there at the switch and the other line go to the office. Keep your feed lines as short as possible though. By having the switch in the basement, while taking cover you can switch from office to basement while staying in the basement. |
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You could use a switch somewhere, but that would require manual intervention and might be more trouble than it's worth. Two antennas is your best bet. If a switch is possible that might work for me. The antenna will be right above the office and the coax will be short. The station in the basement will be right under the office so the coax still won't be long and using a switch would be a minor concern. Where would I find a coax switch? |
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You could use a switch somewhere, but that would require manual intervention and might be more trouble than it's worth. Two antennas is your best bet. If a switch is possible that might work for me. The antenna will be right above the office and the coax will be short. The station in the basement will be right under the office so the coax still won't be long and using a switch would be a minor concern. Where would I find a coax switch? Any of the online Ham radio stores carry antenna switches. |
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You could use a switch somewhere, but that would require manual intervention and might be more trouble than it's worth. Two antennas is your best bet. If a switch is possible that might work for me. The antenna will be right above the office and the coax will be short. The station in the basement will be right under the office so the coax still won't be long and using a switch would be a minor concern. Where would I find a coax switch? Any of the online Ham radio stores carry antenna switches. Something like this: http://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-011157 |
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You could use a switch somewhere, but that would require manual intervention and might be more trouble than it's worth. Two antennas is your best bet. If a switch is possible that might work for me. The antenna will be right above the office and the coax will be short. The station in the basement will be right under the office so the coax still won't be long and using a switch would be a minor concern. Where would I find a coax switch? Any of the online Ham radio stores carry antenna switches. Something like this: http://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-011157 That would work. |
| why not just run a single coax into the office then from there run another run of coax to the basement and just use a double female connector to connect the two. when you want to setup in the office just hook the frrd coming in the house to the radio and when you want to run in the basement hook up that run to the other using the double female. no fancy switch or other nonsense to deal with. |
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Quoted:
I'm new to HAM but I've got my license and my mobile up and running well. I'm looking at the Comet GP-9 as my home antenna for 2m/70cm use with a mobile radio on a power supply in the house. My question is, can you have two outputs on the coax that comes into the house? I don't know if you can just use a splitter to accomplish that or if it will cause signal issues. I've got two places I would like to have an output to hook up the radio, one in my office and one in the basement (for bad weather). Is this possible or can you only have one line? As money allows I'll purchase a radio for in the house instead of using my mobile. The base stations I see are HF with VHF/UHF capability. Is there a base station made that only does VHF/UHF that is less expensive or would I be better served just buying another mobile until I get my license for the HF and buying a complete base station? Depending on the radio you could put it in the basment and just run the head and mic remote in the office via a simple extension kit. The yaesu ones are basically cat5 and then a long audio cable for a speaker. |
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Well that could cause some problems.
is there a reason you only want one antenna? is it cost, restrictions, curb appeal? if you dont live in a HOA i say just put up individual antennas if its a cost thing look into building a couple. It will be educational and cheap. a couple dual band slim jims or 2 like the ed fong style would be cheaper then a commercial antenna |
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Just get a 2 antenna switch, and connect it backwards. Like this one: switch
Don't transmit on the radio that isn't switched in.
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Don't transmit on the radio that isn't switched in. quoted and enlarged for re-emphasis. ar-jedi One of the reasons I am homebrewing a switch for my rigs that switches the non used rig to my dummy load. The only problem I may run into though, "Why the hell can no one here me tonight?????" 
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Well that could cause some problems. is there a reason you only want one antenna? is it cost, restrictions, curb appeal? if you dont live in a HOA i say just put up individual antennas if its a cost thing look into building a couple. It will be educational and cheap. a couple dual band slim jims or 2 like the ed fong style would be cheaper then a commercial antenna Mainly it just seems like a poor use of resources to purchase two identical antennas and put them up right next to each other if it isn't necessary. I can afford to do it if I must, but I don't want to waste money for no reason either. What I had in mind was having one radio set up in a case that I could plug in at either location, office or basement. Eventually I would upgrade to having two separate radios which would mean I'd have a spare (two is one, one is none) and not have to mess with moving it. I suppose the same argument could be made for having the second antenna meaning I'd have an inherent spare but the antenna failing seems much less likely than the radio having issues. Of course I could easily be completely wrong since I've been doing this for a grand total of a couple weeks now. That's why I'm asking here and looking for advice from those that know much more than I do. |
| seriously, i wouldnt mess with switches unless i was running more than one antenna. mount your antenna, run coax to your office, put a PL-259 on that cable. then run another piece of coax from your office to your basement, put PL259's on both ends then just buy a double female connector. just keep the two pieces of coax connected at all times except when your using the radio in your office. then disconnect the cable, hook it up to your radio and when your done connect the coax back. that way its always ready in the basement if needed. |
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howabout this:
buy one mobile/base rig that supports Cross-Band Repeat (Kenwood, Alinco, Yeasu). Connect this rig to your Base Antenna. Purchase an inexpensive (ie: Wouxun) Dual Band HT. Use the HT where-ever you want on your property (basement, barn, back 40, john, etc...) to transmit to the Base-let your base re-transmit and your problem is solved.... one less mobile rig to purchase, one less power-supply to purchase, one less antenna to purchase....for base use. (Kenwood also offers what amounts to the same thing with their HT and Base HF radios) ETA: another thought for someone smarter than I. Could a Duplexer be used in this scenario instead of a switch? |