Asking for suggestions on a base set up.

[oceanliner]

I just moved into a house with nothing but rice and soybean fields all around me lol. My nearest neighbor is 200yrds away and after that its a cple miles to the next house. I am totally in the flat grounds for miles.

I do have tall trees that almost totally surround my house they arent "THICK" as in i could call it woods, but like a single row of trees all around my property. Its just an older farm house that was built very well.

I would like to set up a decent base station. I am disabled, and archery is my only other hobby, so I would like to be able to talk locally and DX.

I am looking for any and all suggestions.

So far i have...A brand new Connex 3300hp, Galaxy 44, Galaxy 55. I dont know which of these would be the better talker for a base station. The connex is swinging 60watts and the 44 is swinging 40. I havent had the 55 on a meter yet. I do have a new palomar 250 amp, but i plan on leaving that in the mobile for now.

If you were in this situation and were gonna use one of these radios as a base, in your experience how would you put the station together?

I dont have to be the best, or loudest i just want to be able to enjoy myself when im not hunting. I hunt and fish alone, all the time, I have a great wife and kids, but all in school, i would like to get back into this hobby and talk to folks again.

I have a budget of about 400 bucks, i could go quiet a bit more if need be, but i would like to limit it if i can haha.

Reason i am asking this is because, i am having trouble deciding on an antenna. I used to live in piggot Ar, and there i had what i thought was a nice shack, talking through an Imax 2000, lots of goodies but i made great money then haha, so now i need good advice, and i believe this is the place to get it.

Anyway i am looking forward to the suggestions, and thank you for your time.

Be Oceanliner on the side.....

[Trouble]

Connex and Maco V/Y max or V5000 is what I would go for.

[linx]

The beam is a nice idea, but may run up the cost after you figure out some way to support it.

Are you wanting a tower, or wanting to put your antenna on a piece of pipe? 10 ft tower sections sell locally here for $20 each, or you can find someone with a tower they don't want and take it down. I understand that you are disabled, but one of the awesome things about the hobby is folks always willing to help with disassembling and erection of towers and antennas.

The Imax 2000 is a great antenna, and can be had relatively cheap. I think they go for about $85 + shipping of about $20. So there's $105 bucks there. If you are wanting a pipe, that could run up to $20 or so plus a way to secure it. I say coax will run anywhere from $30-100 depending on what quality you want. I'd get a decent desk mic like an older D104 for about $60-80. With the rest of the money I would buy a small power supply for the radio, and start looking for a tube amp. If you are wanting to go with a pill amp then I'd buy a big power supply, and find you a little 2 pill to start out with at a hundred or so dollars.

Just my suggestion.

[oceanliner]

Thanks linx.

I am probably going to go with a pipe. Plenty around here lol. I eventually plan on an amp, just looking for lots of imput before i spend a bunch of money.\


Thanks again

[drdx]

How tall are the trees? What about using one as a support structure and getting the antenna way up there? Maybe have a tree guy with a bucket come out and trim a tree top, strap on the antenna, and hook up the coax and ground for ya. I've done that, as others have as well. Use high quality coax, like Times LMR400. The imax will do you fine, but do yourself a favor. If you don't get a beam, string up a dipole(1/2 wave wire antenna, look them up if you don't already know, very simple) horizontally so you have a diverse antenna selection. Signals vary from vertical to horizontal on skip, and if you have any locals "on the flat side" you can use the dipole there too. You mentioned the archery deal. That's a great method for getting a couple of lines up into the trees for hanging the dipole. I've done that, and I'm far from bo duke quality with a bow. In fact, the dipole, for starters, is about the most economical effective base antenna you can get going.


-drdx