New Technician - starting point questions...

[Hit_Factor]

I just found this vertical one; does anyone have experience with it?

24' HF Vertical Antenna, No Radials, OCF multiband vertical dipole 160-6M

24' HF Vertical Antenna multiband, 160-6M. No Radials is Low angle, Low loss, Low noise, low angle, for ham radio, NVIS, disaster prep, & emcomm. Free Shipping

greylineperformance.com

Generally, verticals (for HF) are a compromise antenna.

The OCF will work if you get it up in the air. You mentioned you have trees, why change that plan?

When installing wire antennas, tying parachute cord to the ends, and letting that hang down to the ground works pretty well. You can tie it off or put a 10 pound weight on it (allows it to move with the wind and trees). I have a ham friend that has lots of trees with pulleys he has pulled up by ropes. He changes antennas frequently based on need.

 

[WRFM426]

Generally, verticals (for HF) are a compromise antenna.

The OCF will work if you get it up in the air. You mentioned you have trees, why change that plan?

When installing wire antennas, tying parachute cord to the ends, and letting that hang down to the ground works pretty well. You can tie it off or put a 10 pound weight on it (allows it to move with the wind and trees). I have a ham friend that has lots of trees with pulleys he has pulled up by ropes. He changes antennas frequently based on need.

Fair comment..!
However, is there any reason to perhaps consider an end-fed antenna set up such as:

Chameleon Antenna CHA HYBRID MICRO 60FT

Emergency Communications Portable 1.8-54 MHz Antenna Base with 60 Feet of Wire 100 Watts

www.hamradio.com

Or - if I have the space - just go for the OCFD option?

 

[TexTAC]

Congrats on the license and new rig. I don’t think a new operator can go wrong buying a reputable brand if they have some idea of the bands & modes they are interested in. I have a 991A with an OCFD up 25-30 feet and a X300 antenna for VHF/UHF. In the first year, I had worked all states and 62 countries on SSB including a 1st place award for Texas in a nationwide contest for 100W single operator. Edited to add my longest confirmed QSO was with FR4KR on the island of Reunion 10,500 miles away on 15m.

I don’t think the 991A is a compromise or too hard to learn for a new operator. Two years in and I still have room to grow with it for CW and digital modes. Of course, I don’t have experience with other setups to compare it to.

For the OCFD I had luck dropping the feed line vertical and installing a RF isolator 1:1 balun 25 feet from the feed point. It works as part of the antenna and eliminates RF back to the house. I can work almost every band from 80 to 6m (some better than others) with this setup and a good manual tuner. Between both antennas, I can get very good reception on everything from air bands, rail bands, regular AM, CB, distant UHF/VHF repeaters, and even use the 991A as a police/fire scanner at night for the Dallas PD/FD.

 

[bill4long]

Good advice..
If I wanted to hit local UHF repeaters too, what about the Icom IC-2730A? Would that be a safe bet?

Yes. Personally, I'm biased toward Yaesu VHF/UHF mobiles. So I would go with something like an FTM-200DR. Plus it has C4FM/Fusion which I talk on. I've got a Yaesu 7250 in the mobile which I like, and was somewhat less expensive, but they stopped producing them. But the Icom 2730 is a perfectly good radio.

 

[Hit_Factor]

Or - if I have the space - just go for the OCFD option?

Yes, works better than an end fed. OCF can suffer from common mode current, maybe not for 100w, but for a 1kw, it will.

BTW, the Chameleon you linked to is a portable antenna, don't buy portable for permanent install, it won't stand up to the weather. EF are often referred to as random length antennas, requiring a tuner (you IC-7300 has one) and probably a counterpoise to get it to work.

 

[Hit_Factor]

Used ID-5100 on QRZ

https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/id-5100.858449/#post-6504949

 

[WRFM426]

OK, so I bit the bullet (so to speak...) and purchased an Icom IC-7300 as my HF Base Station. It's linked to a Buckmaster 7-band OCFD which I have suspended about 35ft up in the trees next to the end of the house..
For 2m/70cm, I purchased the Yaesu FTM-400XDR. That is connected to a Diamond X300A, which is on a 10ft pole mounted on the end of the house.
Also on the end wall is the Laird FG4607 for my GHMRS rig.. - also on a 10ft pole.
Each of the three antennas' feedlines enters the house via an appropriate surge protector mounted on a grounding bar.
Two new grounding rods have been inserted outside - one at base of the end wall where the antennas are located, and the other grounding rod has become the new house Grounding point - which is bonded to the existing house ground. A qualified electrician took care of this part.. Grounding rods are bounded together and the antennas' surge protectors' separate grounding bar is also bonded to the antenna grounding rod.
All radios, and associated equipment have grounding wires attached and go to a grounding bar in the radio room (office...) which in turn is bonded to existing electrical ground.
Many thanks to Bill (WA0CBW) who spent a couple of phone sessions with me to ensure that I hadn't overlooked anything..!
I'm enjoying reaching out to 2m repeaters over 50 miles away, and 70cm repeaters 30 miles away...
I have only just started getiing to know the 7300, and am enjoying listening-in to other Hams on 80m, 40m, 20m, 10m, and 6m. I have 'established comms' with a fellow Ham on 6m and am getting excellent signal quality for both TX and RX. It seems to be a very nice piece of equipment..

The project started as a GMRS base station idea, possibly going down the GMRS Repeater route, but I got deflected off the original course towards getting my Technician License and thus veering towards the Ham bands.
In the meantime I discovered a fellow Ham who is also interested in GMRS. He has a small Retevis GMRS Repeater which he has just relocated to higher up the hill where he lives. The range now reaches 10-15 miles (in directions where little gets in the way...) so my idea for my own GMRS repeater is now somewhat redundant.
However with the Laird FG4607 now up and running, it means that I can also reach another GMRS repeater ~15 miles away which has a massive footprint - depending on terrain, it gets out to over 40miles, which is pretty impressive..

 

[bill4long]

Each of the three antennas' feedlines enters the house via an appropriate surge protector mounted on a grounding bar.
Two new grounding rods have been inserted outside - one at base of the end wall where the antennas are located, and the other grounding rod has become the new house Grounding point - which is bonded to the existing house ground. A qualified electrician took care of this part.. Grounding rods are bounded together and the antennas' surge protectors' separate grounding bar is also bonded to the antenna grounding rod.
All radios, and associated equipment have grounding wires attached and go to a grounding bar in the radio room (office...) which in turn is bonded to existing electrical ground.

Pro tip: keep in mind that surge protectors, polyphasers, grounding, etc, are useful for high static bursts in the proximity of lightning strikes. However, if you get a direct hit, none of that matters. It will be total destruction of any radios directly connected to antennas directly hit. Period. Radios. Coax. Antennas. Everything. We're talking 300 BILLION coulombs of electrons for the average lightning strike, in a small fraction of a second. So if you care about your equipment, when you hear thunder, unplug everything. Unplug the antennas and unplug the radios from the AC wall sockets to prevent ground paths through your house.

 

[WRFM426]

Appreciate the tip..
Heard some thunder rolling around last night: did what you just suggested..!