Posted: 10/23/2012 6:25:16 PM EDT
| Yet another stupid question. I am thinking about skipping the ht and jumping straight to the base unit. I was wondering what the best way to run antennas and grounds outside? Where I want to set up my radio is in the basement den. There are no windows or anything near the area. I could run it around the room, through a wall I have already poked a hole for the cable, through the laundry room and out a small hole near the basement door that was drilled for my old satellite tv. There is a ground rod there that I could hook on to. I would then need to run the antenna cable down the back of the house back in the direction it came from to get to the part of the yard that is not seen as easily. Now if I put a hole in the wall where the radio would sit, it would save a lot of cable but I don't know about poking new holes in the side of my house. I was wondering how you guys ran stuff outside without making a mess? Pictures and explanations would be great. If not pictures, how about just an explanation? Thanks and thanks for putting up with all my questions. |
| I put a hole into the interior wall of my den, and ran the coax up through the center of the wall into the attic. From there, it goes out one of the roof vents onto the outside of the roof, and to the chimney where the antenna resides. It was easy to fish the coax through the wall from above while in the attic, then pull the end through the hole in the den. I also like the face that I didn't have to create any external holes in the walls or roof. |
Weather Head, wish I'd used 2" pvc all the way round instead! Box could'a been bigger too 
Box Drilled thru back covering hole bored thru exterior brick into Den area 
Other side of Wall (inside) 
Family Friendly Ham Shack 
Hope to add some sort of HF here soon! For now it's 2m, MURS & Scanner. |
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Since my "shack" is in a corner of my living room my wife was pretty sensitive to how it looked. If it had been messy, I probably would have been choked to death or set on fire in my sleep. Since I enjoy living I put a lot of effort into my coax entries and (hidden) antenna installs.
Coax entries: 
2m/440 antenna (HF not shown): 
The Diamond X-50 has since been upgraded to a larger version, but you get the idea 
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| Thanks guys. I am a picture guy. Attic would be nice but I am a big guy and the only way in is a tiny hole in a closet ceiling. I have a huge backyard but power lines immediately behind the house. I guess I could dig a small trench and bury cable and stick some sort of pole up in the back of the yard. I guess drilling holes in the side of the house isn't so bad if you get the right materials. |
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You'd be amazed at how much HF work you can do with a fairly short vertical antenna in the back yard.
Before I put up my 43' vertical, I had 10' vertical made from buddistick parts with a few radials –– I used WSPR to compare the two, the 10' was only down about 3 dB, and it was virtually invisible. |