I would like to thank all who responded. I got way more than expected, and
it was all interesting. I am a believer in open wire feed line. I just dont
have a good way to get it into my shack direct to the tuner.
Thanks all
73 Paul K9OT
Paul,
Just a comment on this 'problem'.
Two methods of getting wires in a home, with YL approval, can be
pretty simple. I just moved to my retirement QTH and due to tree
location, I have a run of some 600 feet of open wire feeders. I
agonized about how I could get the feeders inside the house
effectively and without making my radio room look like a junk room.
At my local hardware store, while looking for ideas, in the plumbing
section, I found some white nylon toilet bowl water pipe, for 98 cent
a piece. This pipe is 20 inches long, 3/8" in outer diameter, and
3/16" inner diameter. One end has small flange that is 3/4" in
diameter. I drilled two 'feed' holes, spaced 4" apart, in the eves of
the house, pointing up at an angle of about 45 degrees, into the
attic. In my radio room I drilled two 3/8" holes in the white
ceiling, up into the attic. I used a simple snug fitting rubber
grommet over the tubing, on the attic side to keep the tubing from
sliding back out. I simply ran my feeder wires through the tubing up
into the attic, then in the attic, I ran these same wires down
through the tubes, into my shack directly to the back on my old
Johnson KW match box. In the radio room, I painted the flange of the
tube with white ceiling paint, on the outside I filled the open end
of the tubes with plain old coax seal, just enough to keep bugs,
etc., out. It is a very neat and clean installation that turned out
to be YL approved.
If you want to come directly through a glass window pane (and not
replace you glass window pane with clear plastic), you can drill a
hole directly in the glass! Again at the hardware store, in the
bathroom section, most places sell what is called bathroom tile
drills. I bought one that is 1/8' in diameter. To drill through
glass, I took the window out and laid it on a folded wet towel
directly under where I wanted to drill. I used a small electric drill
and while cutting the holes, applied NO pressure to the drill.
Meaning, I let the weight of the drill apply it's own pressure while
it was cutting the hole. (Make sure you do not apply pressure as you
can pretty easily crack the glass!) Although probably not necessary,
I kept the cutting side of the glass wet with cool water. The two
holes came out perfect and I was able to simply run the two wires
directly through the very small holes after simply replacing the
window. This also worked out really nice and looked quite clean.
Both approaches look really clean and nice and you don't have to make
a 'mess' drilling holes through your walls, etc. I run full legal
power output with my Titan 3 and have not noticed any electrical
problems using these methods.
Just some 'workable' ideas. Good luck if you decide to bring your wires inside.
Tom - W4BQF
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