This past Saturday, with the help of K1PV, K1YU, KB1PMT and W1GEK, I put up a Cobra Senior antenna in my backyard. Using K1PV’s pneumatic tennis ball launcher (see this for an example), we were able to get both ends of the dipole up and over some tall pines. The feed point is approximately 65′ high with the ends slightly higher due to the fact that I don’t have an adequate way to support the center. Dacron cord was used for support and we secured one end to a strong tree while the other end is secured to a substantial but flexible limb in the woods to give the Cobra some flex in high winds. I’m using a 4:1 Unadilla Balun to connect the ladder line to 100′ of RG-8X coax. I’ll shorten the coax since I have more than enough to reach the shack. Soon I’ll look into getting some coax with a lot less loss. I picked up an LDG Z-11 Pro auto antenna tuner and it’s been working great with my new Cobra and the FT-990.
I’ve been too busy with work and preparing for Field Day to spend a lot of time trying out the new antenna. I did participate in a net Sunday morning on 75M and I was 20 over or more to those that gave me a signal report! Here are some pictures from the antenna install:
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