I purchased the HOA Buster, not because of any overzealous HOA…I bought it to appease my antenna-loathing XYL. She doesn’t mind the hobby, but refuses to have her home “uglied” by antennas and the like. The Alpha HOA Buster seemed to be the thing.

Now, I do have a 150′ random that is in the air, over the roof of my house, anchored to the maple in the front yard and the maple in the back yard. It works, but it’s stainless steel. The efficiency is pretty low, due to the nature of stainless. It’s metallurgy has been suggested by WB2VUO to radiate in the 3-5% efficient neighborhood. Even with such a lousy radiator, I have been able to make QSOs.

The HOA Buster came, and I was amused by what came in the carton: the Alpha FMJ balun, a 3/8×24 mount, what appears to be a gutter nail, and 8′ of wire with crocodile clips on each end. Not exactly high tech here. Attaching to my gutters, as described in the instructions, was dash simple. And it loaded fine. JUST FINE. The problem on MY end was that my home is a ranch. I have 180′ of gutters, but they are no more than 9′ off of the ground. With the QRP power I use, or the 20-30 watts from either of my Atlas rigs…it wasn’t going to cut it.

After a bit of examination of the Alpha website, I had everything I needed to experiment a bit. The top of the FMJ has 3/8×24 threads…easy to add whips or whatnot. So, I moved the FMJ to the backyard, at the base of the silver maple, and ran 27′ of 4 gauge solid copper up the main trunk of the tree. The copper is fastened to the trunk with nylon cable clips. At the FMJ, I use a 2′ jumper of 14 gauge copper, which is attached to the FMJ’s top with a 3/8×24 nut, and to the 27′ vertical with a copper grounding block. The feedline is RG6/U…the direct bury type to help with keeping it invisible.
THIS incarnation of the HOA Buster has been OUTSTANDING. Using my LDG AT-100 auto-tuner (which I utterly HATE), I can pretty much load up anywhere from 160-10…with a few exceptions. (I have an MFJ Versa Tuner that is ready to replace the LDG once I finally decide that enough is enough with the tuner being unable to match what’s being handed to it).

The FMJ is built like a tank, and actually quite beautiful to boot. If you stand on the sidewalk next to my yard, you can JUST see the chrome/metal color of the FMJ at the base of the tree…and THAT IS IT. For a vertical of this degree of simplicity and stealth, I can attest 110% that this vertical beats the PANTS off of the Hustler 4BTV that I owned when I was married to my evil ex-wife and lived in our marital home. The FMJ is a BEAST, and is worthy of experimenting with in case of logistical issues with the home per se….I’m thinking of nylon gutters, etc.

Overall, I have a modular antenna system that I can adapt or improve, as needed. And it keeps XYL #2 happy.

GREAT WORK, Alpha!!

KB2HSH

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