Brian's new Antenna

[BriansBrain]

I am pretty low down but getting about 8 miles in the car on 7 or 30 watts from my place you must have more hills around

Yes - we have many hills - look at the Terrain pic I posted

[BriansBrain]

I always found that a quick twin-stack of dipoles worked well, and gave around 3.2 dBb if matched and assembled correctly.
The "Dominator" claims 3 dBd.

Albert, if you remember from other posts of mine.
I had contemplated going for a twin-stack of dipoles especially because I already had one rated at 150W.
But... this would of given me a max power handling of only 300W.
Also on a private house is visually instantly suspect... OH LOOK... it must be a Pirate Radio.

The Dominator is rated at 1000W and is very unobtrusive
It was pre-tuned, very quick to install, very low SWR and has given some good results from listeners feedback so far

Brian and me are very happy with it

[BriansBrain]

I am pretty low down but getting about 8 miles in the car on 7 or 30 watts from my place you must have more hills around

This is the reason I can't even get 9.8 km or 6 miles

Amadores - Puerto - Anfi.jpg

[BriansBrain]

....So in that case if you've got the 1kW version and not the 250w version, does that mean you might be planning to use more power?

YES

[Bton-FM]

I am pretty low down but getting about 8 miles in the car on 7 or 30 watts from my place you must have more hills around

This is the reason I can't even get 9.8 km or 6 miles

Amadores - Puerto - Anfi.jpg

Maybe you should try suspending the aerial with a couple of helium balloons in the sky....

[BriansBrain]

Maybe you should try suspending the aerial with a couple of helium balloons in the sky....

Good idea... but impractical

One other idea would be transmit from offshore - boat / platform etc

Only problem with that is it's patrolled by Spanish armed forces - they have guns

Guardia Civil Patrol Boat.jpg

[SOTS 87 7]

The "Dominator" claims 3 dBd.

I have one of these and found it to be quite effective, certainly far better than the single dipole AND (Albert will like this) 1000 times better than that screwed up cut down '' silver rod'' thing that Paul Hollings tried to sell. I've got one of those as well, You'd get better performance from a wet bit of string.

[fmuser877]

do other local stations also have the same problem as you?

[Bton-FM]

I know it’s bit of a far out suggestion,but wouldn’t it be worth putting your gear on the top of one of those fatty mountains?

[BriansBrain]

The "Dominator" claims 3 dBd.

I have one of these and found it to be quite effective, certainly far better than the single dipole

I also had a single dipole before...
Up to now signal results coming in from ''normal listeners'' it's better now... not as much breakup
I will be doing a signal strength test later this week with my Pira P275 FM Analyzer

[BriansBrain]

do other local stations also have the same problem as you?

Of coarse they do
Example, the local legal station SER at 99.6MHz 100m up the road to me has an array of 4 Directional Dipoles running at at 4KW

SER Antenna.jpg

[BriansBrain]

I know it’s bit of a far out suggestion,but wouldn’t it be worth putting your gear on the top of one of those fatty mountains?

OK... Now we are talking
Pico de la Nieves
Its height is 1,949 metres (6,394 ft) above sea level and a maximum of 25km from my listeners area.
The mountain were all the Big legal stations transmit from.
They have high voltage electric fences around the sites with armed security guards patrolling 24 hours a day.

Pico de la Nieves-6.jpg

It's also were all the Big Pirate Stations have there antennas.

Pico de la Nieves-5.jpg

It's the perfect location
However
Extortionate rental cost of the hut / shack together with 3rd party provided electric running cost.
Industrial air conditioning / heating unit.
Reliable high power transmitter and Cavity Filter.
Antenna system to cope with temperatures +45C° in the summer, -10C° and snow in the winter.
Large tall strong steel mast, extreme high winds up there +/- 120mph.
Studio to transmitter link.
Because of jealousy from the competition there is a lot of vandalism, have to pay a private armed security guard service.
Distance and time from base if a fault occurs or pay a company to be on standby.

There are two little huts / shacks available

Pico de la Nieves-Empty.jpg

[Tec1 87.5fm London]

Put in the trees Mate and nick power from aircon

[BriansBrain]

Put in the trees Mate and nick power from aircon

[Electronically]

Put in the trees Mate and nick power from aircon

2 x over radio horizon you'll be good to gooooooo.

Sent from my AMN-LX9 using Tapatalk

[Electronically]

Put in the trees Mate and nick power from aircon

2 x over radio horizon you'll be good to gooooooo.

Sent from my AMN-LX9 using Tapatalk

Note:to those that know how this radio horizon works you'll have a fairly good idea how to achieve this.nothing competes against a line of sight. Once you have this far up in the air you'll be good to go. But warning 100 meters of coax is wrong. However if 10 meters is achieved you'll be good as new. Reason being as Albert and Steven once mentioned if to above 10 meters you'll lose power through coax.

Sent from my AMN-LX9 using Tapatalk

[Electronically]

2 x over radio horizon you'll be good to gooooooo.

Sent from my AMN-LX9 using Tapatalk

Note:to those that know how this radio horizon works you'll have a fairly good idea how to achieve this.nothing competes against a line of sight. Once you have this far up in the air you'll be good to go. But warning 100 meters of coax is wrong. However if 10 meters is achieved you'll be good as new. Reason being as Albert and Steven once mentioned if to above 10 meters you'll lose power through coax.

Sent from my AMN-LX9 using Tapatalk

But if you use rg213 you'll hardly lose any power if running 100 meters true. If running rg58 you'll be sure to lose a hell of a lot of Watts at that length. So keep keep rg58 below 10 meters. I use rgx at 10 meters I don't lose much Watts.

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[BriansBrain]

But if you use rg213 you'll hardly lose any power if running 100 meters true. If running rg58 you'll be sure to lose a hell of a lot of Watts at that length. So keep keep rg58 below 10 meters. I use rgx at 10 meters I don't lose much Watts.

I have a 10m run of this German made cable Aircom Premium

Aircom Premium.JPG

Outer Jacket PVC black, UV stabilized Ø 10.2mm wall thickness 1.1mm
Maximum Load at 40°C @ 100MHz - 1400 Watt
Attenuation in dB/100m at 20°C - 100MHz 3.6dB

I'm very happy with it

[Electronically]

But if you use rg213 you'll hardly lose any power if running 100 meters true. If running rg58 you'll be sure to lose a hell of a lot of Watts at that length. So keep keep rg58 below 10 meters. I use rgx at 10 meters I don't lose much Watts.

I have a 10m run of this German made cable Aircom Premium

Aircom Premium.JPG

Outer Jacket PVC black, UV stabilized Ø 10.2mm wall thickness 1.1mm
Maximum Load at 40°C @ 100MHz - 1400 Watt
Attenuation in dB/100m at 20°C - 100MHz 3.6dB

I'm very happy with it

Good stuff that Brian.

Sent from my AMN-LX9 using Tapatalk

[thewisepranker]

if you use rg213 you'll hardly lose any power if running 100 meters

If you consider losing about 80% as "hardly losing any power" then yeah, you're right.