[TenTec] [OT] Metal Roof as Ground Plane

[Gary Hoffman]

Well... antenna work is supposed to be done in the freezing cold.
If you put up an antenna when it's below zero, it adds 3 dB gain.

73 de Gary, AA2IZ

P.S.  I think it would make an excellent ground plane.  And RF should not
get inside, I'd bet than an all-metal building makes a great faraday
cage.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Erbaugh" <mark at microenh.com>
To: <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 12:23 PM
Subject: [TenTec] [OT] Metal Roof as Ground Plane


> Since most of my HF equipment is TenTec, there is some tangential
> relationship to this list <g>.
>
> I have a 24 by 48 foot metal barn with a metal roof. The peak of the roof
is
> about 20 feet high. Is there a wait to exploit this structure as a ground
> plane for an HF vertical antenna? What kind of performance improvement (if
> any) could I expect over the same antenna mounted on the ground. Would I
> still need radials?
>
> Currently, I have a Butternut HF6V and a Cushcraft AV5 antenna available.
I
> also have a Gap Challenger, but I understand that it doesn't use a ground
> plane (elevated feed point). Would it be worth trying any of these
antennas
> on the barn roof?
>
> The ham shack is not in the barn and the barn would not normally be
occupied
> (it's just storage) when I'm on the air, but would RF exposure inside the
> barn be an issue.
>
> 73,
> Mark
>
> P.S. There's 2 inches of snow on the ground and temps in the 20s and I
have
> good antennas up now, so this is just a though experiment for later in the
> spring.
>
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