Ham Radio Gutter Antenna

Coincidentally these occurred at the top of the 75 meter band and again in the middle of the 15 meter band.

Ham radio gutter antenna.

This gutter antenna is connected via an upper roof level downspout where no personal contact is possible. I did a quick coax run to the outside gutter and grounded the braided side then connected the feedline to an old mfj tuner. I had great time. I have wanted to try this for a while but never got around to it until today.

Some words of caution are in order however if you plan to use your rainspout as an antenna. Also less interference is created to neighbour s tv etc from cw than ssb. That article found its way into several ham radio publications and newsletters. Make sure your gutter and downspout are isolated from ground.

There were a few spots where the rain gutter antenna was under 2 1 swr. Most of the original article is still relevant but i have. And weaker signal from such set up can be heard better in cw. A ham friend of mine recently asked me for the details of how i use my rain gutter and downspout as an antenna.

Make sure there is solid electrical continuity between the various sections of your downspout and gutter. Gutters if they are made of metal can carry rf and they can do it reasonably well if some things are kept in mind. In fact the downspout has now become my main antenna. Although varney envisioned his design primarily as a 3 2 wavelength antenna for the 20 meter amateur radio band radio amateurs have used the antenna for multiband use.

Stealth gutter antenna for ham radio or shortwave. This all aluminum gutter is fed with coax with an unterminated shield at this end shield connected to radio ground at the other to reduce nearby computer hash from inside the house. 500 hz or narrower cw filter really takes away many noises compare to wider setting of ssb voice. I originally did a write up on it in 1994.

I did use rain gutter as antenna and water pipe as ground it worked great from 160 mtr to 10 mtr. The g5rv is an excellent choice for the 20 meter band. Time to attach it to the transmatch and hf rig and fire it up.