Ham Radio Gutter Antenna

The g5rv is an excellent choice for the 20 meter band.

Ham radio gutter antenna.

I have wanted to try this for a while but never got around to it until today. Make sure there is solid electrical continuity between the various sections of your downspout and gutter. Time to attach it to the transmatch and hf rig and fire it up. I did use rain gutter as antenna and water pipe as ground it worked great from 160 mtr to 10 mtr.

I was surprised that the gutter tuned up at a. A ham friend of mine recently asked me for the details of how i use my rain gutter and downspout as an antenna. And weaker signal from such set up can be heard better in cw. I had great time.

There were a few spots where the rain gutter antenna was under 2 1 swr. Stealth gutter antenna for ham radio or shortwave. Gutters if they are made of metal can carry rf and they can do it reasonably well if some things are kept in mind. I originally did a write up on it in 1994.

Also less interference is created to neighbour s tv etc from cw than ssb. 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. Make sure your gutter and downspout are isolated from ground. Some words of caution are in order however if you plan to use your rainspout as an antenna.

This gutter antenna is connected via an upper roof level downspout where no personal contact is possible. 500 hz or narrower cw filter really takes away many noises compare to wider setting of ssb voice. Coincidentally these occurred at the top of the 75 meter band and again in the middle of the 15 meter band. I did a quick coax run to the outside gutter and grounded the braided side then connected the feedline to an old mfj tuner.

That article found its way into several ham radio publications and newsletters. In fact the downspout has now become my main antenna. Most of the original article is still relevant but i have.