At some point or another, almost all hams face the dilemma of how to bring antenna feed lines into the house. Here’s my solution:
This is the basement window right above my operating position. When I first got back on the air about 15 years ago, I only used coaxial cable, so all I needed were the three holes that you see below the window.
I used a 7/8-in. hole cutter to drill a hole in the window frame. That’s just the right size to allow a PL-259 to fit through it. I was fortunate to have that much frame to work with. I got the hole plugs from the local Ace Hardware.
The holes were not a great solution for the ladder line, however. So, today, I cut a slit in the frame to bring the ladder line through the window frame as well. You can see that at the bottom right of the photo. I’m happy to say that that worked like a charm.
While I was at it, I washed the window, too. Now, I have a nice view out the window while I’m operating.
Carl Heintz says
Great pic. I’ve been boring holes through the wall, to enable me to open the window. Problem is: lightning. Protection at entry point to the home? At the nearest point to the antenna? Both? If you ground the coax at entry point to the home, with a lightning arrestor there, you can introduce some interesting ground current loops that really mess up the antenna system ( I know!) You have to make sure that all ground points are equally at “ground” potential, which means some heavy duty wiring around if you use different grounding points. That in turn creates a “grid” which has an effect upon radiation and SWR