So… that time of year again! Where did the last 63 go… Currently all my antennas are in the loft and this is something I have wanted to address for far too long. So 2024 is going to see some actual metal outdoors.

First on the list is the collinear for GB7RVB. The plan there is to use a TK bracket and put it up on a mast so it is just above the roofline. The issue I will have here is our house is silhouetted against the backdrop of far away hills and I just know there will be complaints. But as we do not have an external TV antenna there are many oversized examples around where people have clearly been done over by unscrupulous installers. We can see Emley Moor mast to the south plus at least two repeaters and our 6 element or so TV antenna in the loft provides perfectly good signal strengths so why the large ‘digital’ antennas? Anyway, they cannot really whinge at me for a collinear given all that metalwork along the rooflines. That’s my defence anyway! Depending on complaints, or hopefully the lack thereof it will probably get a coup, of feet higher as time goes on…

Next the QO100 dish needs to move to the house wall. The current location is about 5 foot off the ground and unsuitable for the new radiation rules. Siting it on the house wall avoids this and means I can up the power to DATV levels.

And for HF… my initial plan is for a random wire the length of the garden, from the house wall to the trees at the top. I have the wire and rope and assorted clamps etc.

I hope I don’t need to revisit this page in 2025 and still have work to do!