Tell me how to set up a base station antenna with an HOA...

[Mentor3006]

So the issue is... well I need to set up a base station at home. 110v to 12v power supply, no problem. I am figuring on running my early 90s TRC-465 AM/SSB rig with power mic. Ran that rig for 20 years straight and unless it somehow died in the attic, should still work. We shall see. if not I can see another Mckinley II FCC coming my way. Once we get out of the back of the radio is where I get a little lost, particularly since I am in an HOA managed neighborhood and I don't think a giant beam would go over particularly well.

I know it is less than ideal, but I am thinking about a Solarcon A99 on a pole of some sort, of course the sort is where the questions come in...

I understand the A99 has a U bolt clamp design that will bolt it up to a pole of up to 1.5" diameter.

I can get a cyclone fence top rail up to 21', which would obviously have to be guyed / anchored out for wind protection, and honestly, that would be STUPID tall and would grab everyones attention.

So an A99 is 17' of Antenna, so 1/2 wave, or 2 102s stacked on each other... The specs and recommendations I see is to have the antenna at least 1' above the roof of adjascent structures, so a 10' pole, or more specifically like a 12+ ft pole with at least 10ft above ground would do that job as I would have it behind my garden shed.

The bright white of the antenna would stick out pretty glaringly, I have seen stories of people that have literally painted the antenna brown to blend in with the surrounding trees. Not a terrible idea.

So power supply check.
Radio and mic, check more or less...
Antenna. Check I think...

Now for the questions.

#1. What sort of coax do I need for this? I need to come off the antenna 10ft to the ground, preferrably bury the cable so 18" there, so 3' going down and up there, run to the corner of the house so 20', another 10' up into the attic, and another 20' to the office wall where I want to drop the coax through. That is 63 feet of coax and a LOT of opportunity for line loss or other interference. And let's be realistic about making the connection, round it up to 75 feet of coax needed to actually GET to the radio.

Now I have a big conducting thing sticking up somewhere around the tops of the nearby trees connected via wire to my home office. In the Texas Gulf Coast... Where we have some wild AF storms that include lightning.

On my TV antenna I have an inline ground shunt that is supposed to take a lightning strike and direct it to ground instead of down my coax. which is connected via a 12ga copper wire directly to the ground rod next to my foundation.

I would assume that I need something like that. Doing some casual googling, it looks like the Workman A28 is what I would want...?

So let's go down the shopping list for this project.

Verify function of old as heck Radio Shack TRC-465 and Noise Cancelling power mic. Worked great when I stopped using it but that wa a long time ago.
50 amp regulated power supply because more than enough clean power is way better than not enough.
Solarcon A99. Do I need a ground plane kit as well?
Let's say a 15' hunk of cyclone fence top rail pipe and some U bolt / muffler clamp type rigs to attach guylines to.
Guylines / steel cable and soil anchors.
75' of coax... I see 100' which is too long but will get there, or 50' which is too short...

What am I missing?

[MDYoungblood]

I see you have the inside taken care of so I'll concentrate on antenna.

Good coax is a must, RG-213 or LMR 400.
I see nothing wrong with a Antron 99A antenna for the CB band and don't thing it won't get out just because it is close to the ground.
Home Depot or Lowe's has chain link fence top rail or post, both are 10ft lengths, or electrical conduit (steel type), also 10ft lengths, which ever is cheaper. Pick up the needed hardware while your there.
You don't need the ground plane kit, in my opinion if the antenna needed a GP, it would come with it.
You will need a ground rod and wire to hook it up.

I ran my Avanti antenna 10ft off the ground for years, so don't think height is might, skip doesn't care where the antenna is, now if you want to talk to a bunch of locals that setup should have a good 25 mile range given you don't live down in a hole.

3's

Greg