Up over the roof

Extending the mast all the way gave me enough height to swing one wire of the dipole over the roof.

The more open arrangement along with both wires of the dipole being more exposed seemed to make the antenna work better. The radio’s internal tuner will match on 40 m now (below that is still a no go), so it’s nice to be able to get that band back.

Noise floor on 40 m is still pretty high (around S7) so I probably won’t be able to hear much except for stronger signals.

First contact with the antenna and new mast was with W9ISF, Indiana State Fair special event station, on 20 m. Got a nice 57 signal report from him and he got a 55 from me.

Raising and lowering the mast isn’t too difficult, and hooking the antenna to the top of the mast makes it easy to attach and remove. Gravity helps with lowering the mast, and I think most of the work will be spent coiling the antenna back up for storage.

Now to acquire another 20 or 25 m of coax that I can use as additional feed line for experimenting with other antennas.