Help a new general class “newb” figure out what he needs to move into HF fun!

So im trying to figure out what all I need to get setup so I have a list ready for any deals coming up over BF/CM holidays. Right now I’m strongly leaning towards a Icom 7300 as my HF base radio and I’m not sure yet for a 70/440 base/mobile radio.

The area’s I’m still a little confused on are feedline coax types (reduce losses but not get something to heavy or inflexible) and how to setup a dipole antenna and which type and which band I want to setup the dipole for. Ill include some photos of my backyard and where I hope to put the antenna. I’ve read that the 7300 has a built in antenna tuner so I’d like to pick an antenna size that lets me have a shot at the most number of bands to learn and play on.

From the window I intend to use as the entry point to the tree I hope to put the antenna in is 46ft in a straight line and about 60ft if you go from the window to the ground and then to the base of the tree. For a VHF/UHF antenna on the roof the feedline run from the window would only be about 25ft to the centerline on the roof on that side of the house. From the window down to where I want the radios should only be a 10-15ft run. So 35-40ft for the VHF/UHF antenna setup and 70-75ft to the HF antenna setup (plus whatever length is needed to reach the antenna from the ground). Here are a couple of photos of the location I was hoping to use for HF antenna:
http://ift.tt/2fGpmk6 http://ift.tt/2fZDRTQ http://ift.tt/2fGrc4j (the feedline will enter the house at the window seen in the 3rd photo. My house is the closest one, not the one with the dish on the roof).

I figure you could attach one end of the dipole to the ridge of the roof which is probably 60ft-ish from the tree but the next closest high object in my yard is either at a 90 degree angle (across the yard to the trees on the other side of the yard) or down the hill to the huge trees in the woods there which is probably a good 150-200ft away to the closest one. I can probably get away with a fair bit in the backyard in this neighborhood but stringing anything into the front yard would meet resistance from the wife pretty quick even if no one else cared. lol. My plan is to use a basic home built dipole using one of these ( http://ift.tt/2fZAaxo ) and some stranded wire I have (I forget the type and gauge but it was what was recommend in a few articles and posts).

Since I plan on building a number of antenna’s to play with I assume I’ll need to get an antenna analyser? Is there anything affordable that also covers VHF/UHF for building antennas for contacting satellites (since most of those seem to be using 2m/70cm bands)?

I’m still trying to absorb as much as I can over a very broad range of subjects (antenna design, FM digital modes, HF digital modes, HF in general, various brands and radio designs, coax, etc etc etc) so I apologize if I’m asking anything “dumb”.

One last thing about my location. I believe it will be quite good. I’m at the top of a hill in a reasonably hilly area of northern kentucky and it looks like I’m within 10ft of the tallest nearby hills and up to 200ft above cincinnati 10 miles away (putting me LOS to most of the repeaters in and around the city).

Thanks for any help! Ben – K1BJP

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