[time-nuts] First Post from Max NG7M

[M. George]

Hello Time Nuts!  This is my first post, but I have been lurking about for
several weeks now... what started out as a project to find a stable time
reference for a QS1R I have been running 24x7 for years on the NC7J CW
Skimmer server has taking me down a whole to obsession after finding time
nuts and GPSDO information.  I now have a clean Trimble TBolt and the
Lucent RFTG-u REF0/1 ready to roll... not to mention a couple of Raspberry
Pi 2's with NTP servers on them setup and ready to accept a PPS signal from
my new gizmos!  I'm following the path that has been traversed many times
before and I appreciate all the info that I have already gleaned from the
time nuts list.

Anyway, I didn't get the TBolt for free form China, but it' s a clean
machine and seems to be settling down nice after running for a few days...

Another reason for the post here is related to an installation of a GPS
antenna on my roof.  I have a $38 ePay bullet that I'm going to put up
tomorrow and make a run of solid conductor LMR-400 to the antenna with a
nice little J-Pole mount.  Or potentially 2 runs for 2 GPS antennas.

I'm lucky to have a southern exposure off the back of house with my ham
shack in the raised basement right in the south west corner of the house so
the new GPS antenna project works out well to keep the coax run short as
possible to the GPS antenna. (see the pics attached or link at the bottom
of my verbose post here)

I'm shocked at how well a cheapie mushroom GPS antenna is doing close to
the back of the house on a broom stick at the moment.  Anyway, I know that
to even think about being a time nut, I need to get a better location for
the GPS antenna (two really eventually or a splitter).

I have attached a picture of my house and you can pretty much see my
options.  Do I go up and simply put the antenna on the roof close to the
edge above the rain gutter or do I take it all the way to the peak of the
roof where you can see a WX station and dual band antenna?

I realize I can calculate the loss in the extra coax, but I'm more
concerned about the fact that I have a SteppIR BigIR vertical HF antenna in
my back yard and I run power / 1KW+ at times on HF (I'm a CW nut!).  The
coax run to the top of the eve is going to be about 30-40 feet of coax
roughly, if I take it all the way to the peak that's probably another 30
feet or so.  70-80 feet max if I go to the roof.

Would a true time-nut need to have the bullet antenna at the peak of the
root for a true clear view of the horizon even to the north 360 degrees?
Will it bug me down the road that I didn't just run the bullet / coax up to
the peak of the roof down the road, regardless of my concerns about RF from
my HF operating potentially getting into the GPS antenna? (I'll probably
put a voltage limiter on the GPS feed line).  The antenna has a nice direct
southern view off the eve.

Thoughts for a first time poster and time-nut wanna be?  The eve or the
peak?

Here is a link to the house pic and a few pictures of the TBolt gizmo that
arrived from China this week: http://www.nc7j.com/downloads/NG7M/Time-Nuts/

I attached the pics too... is that okay on the time nut list?  Picture
attachments?

Max NG7M



-- 
M. George
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