[SCCC] A wall entry solution for a YL

[Wayne Overbeck]

At the other extreme, a single 3/4" hole in 
the wall is sufficient to run all necessary 
cables for a station with two towers and 
antennas for all bands 3.5-144 MHz.  That's 
how it's done at W6TAI's cabin.  Carrie wanted 
a good antenna system but not a large cable 
entry hole.

The 3/4" hole is big enough to pass through 
one RG8 and two 8-conductor control cables.
The single RG8 goes to an outdoor Ameritron 
5-position coax relay box.  From there, five 
cables feed a tribander (A4S with the 40m. 
extension), an inverted vee for 75, a 5-band 
vertical, a 5 ele. Yagi on 50 MHz and a 6 ele. 
Yagi on 144 MHz.

One of the 8-conductor cables controls the 
antenna relay box, while the other controls 
both rotators.  The trick there is to switch 
a single cable between the two rotors with 
another outdoor relay box.  Yaesu rotators 
require only a 6-conductor cable, so the 
last two conductors provide 12 volts DC to 
switch the relays that transfer the 6-conductor 
rotor cable from one rotor to the other. 

The result:  one small (and sealed) hole in 
the wall provides cabling for five antennas 
and two antenna rotators.  Having only one 
rotator control also helps keep the station  
itself compact.  Carrie's entire station 
including an AL-572 amplifier fits in one 
small (18"x22") cabinet.  The laptop and 
an FT-857 sit on top, with a 40-amp power 
supply and the rotor control on the middle 
shelf and the AL-572 on the bottom shelf.

It's really compact, a requirement for a 
YL-owned station in a small cabin.  As for 
the antennas, Carrie thought those were NOT 
compact--until she saw photos of the antennas 
at W6YI and K6NA.

73,
Wayne, N6NB