Rain Gutter Loop Antenna

Gutter end caps close off the ends of gutters keeping debris and water from flowing out at this point.

Rain gutter loop antenna.

Including the feed wire into the shack the total length is in the neighborhood of 42 feet. I did use rain gutter as antenna and water pipe as ground it worked great from 160 mtr to 10 mtr. I did this back in 1981 when i lived in texas. 500 hz or narrower cw filter really takes away many noises compare to wider setting of ssb voice.

All are waterproofed and have the tuning range to match most rain gutters. I had great time. Over a quarter wavelength for 40 meters and almost a half wave for 30 meters. I didn t use the ground.

It is the rain gutter along the front of a house. Other pieces include elbows gutter extensions and gutter flashing. This required best case and worst caswe models to encompass most house variables. A couple of years ago i had written an article on the use of my rain gutter on my home as my hf antenna.

This is the antenna i have been relegated to use for my hf operating. Gutter hangers and gutter brackets allow gutters to attach to a house s eaves offering support and strength to the front edge. I built variations of this antenna when i lived in several rental homes on hawaii island shortly after getting my novice class amateur radio license back in 1977. The smartuner should be mounted as close to the feed point of the rain gutter antenna as possible.

Classic rain gutter height loop elevated on standoffs stylized for emphasis to find out i challenged the rain gutter loop with eznec antenna modeling software. Second article on the rain gutter antenna. Unlike gregg s gutter antenna the spout and long horizontal section were made from plastic. It is 80 feet long and off center fed as a windom with a single wire lead in to a tuner.

Below is a photo of a simple effective and entirely covert hf antenna. The rain gutter antenna has a vertical component approximately 25 high and extends horizontally across the roof line for 35. The best smartuners to use for a rain gutter antenna are the sg 230 sg 231 or the sg 237. However i recommend cw for such installations.

The downspout has a vertical run of approximately 16 feet connecting the horizontal rain gutter which is about 16 feet long across the front of the house. Also less interference is created to neighbour s tv etc from cw than ssb. 1 two loop heights 2 two house types and 3 several bands. Maybe 8 feet of coax to my swan.