I am going to embark on a project to convert an end fed antenna in an attic fed with 75 ohm coax to a dipole fed with 450 ohm ladder line.
I've been doing some research and it seems that one is supposed to keep metal objects at least a couple inches or more or away from the ladder line in order to not disrupt the balanced characteristics of the line. But I am not certain how important that is in a receive situation.
My goal with the ladder line project is to improve signal gain (dipole vs. end fed) and reduce feed line noise (balanced line vs. TV coax). Also, since the primary listening radio is of a vintage variety with a high impedance balanced input, theoretically I do not need any balun...I can run straight to the radio.
That said, I was going to fish the ladder line wire down a wall that presently has phone wires and CATV coax. It occured to me that maybe I need to remove those wires so as to not interfere with the ladder line. Also, there is a metal box where the wire would come through the wall that I cannot (or do not want to) remove. So that got me thinking about bringing the ladder line from the attic through a closet ceiling instead. I'd rather not poke a hole in the closet ceiling for ladder line but willing to do it if it's the right way to install this. Also, I will have some electrical conduit and telephone wires to navigate around in the attic but I do not expect that to be a big deal. Lastly, it would be ideal if it was permissible to have the ladder line come away from the antenna at a 45 degree angle vs. straight down.
Am I over thinking this for a receive antenna given what I want to accomplish?
I've been doing some research and it seems that one is supposed to keep metal objects at least a couple inches or more or away from the ladder line in order to not disrupt the balanced characteristics of the line. But I am not certain how important that is in a receive situation.
My goal with the ladder line project is to improve signal gain (dipole vs. end fed) and reduce feed line noise (balanced line vs. TV coax). Also, since the primary listening radio is of a vintage variety with a high impedance balanced input, theoretically I do not need any balun...I can run straight to the radio.
That said, I was going to fish the ladder line wire down a wall that presently has phone wires and CATV coax. It occured to me that maybe I need to remove those wires so as to not interfere with the ladder line. Also, there is a metal box where the wire would come through the wall that I cannot (or do not want to) remove. So that got me thinking about bringing the ladder line from the attic through a closet ceiling instead. I'd rather not poke a hole in the closet ceiling for ladder line but willing to do it if it's the right way to install this. Also, I will have some electrical conduit and telephone wires to navigate around in the attic but I do not expect that to be a big deal. Lastly, it would be ideal if it was permissible to have the ladder line come away from the antenna at a 45 degree angle vs. straight down.
Am I over thinking this for a receive antenna given what I want to accomplish?