FT8 on a Rain Gutter Antenna

hat do you do if you live in a location that permits antennas but space around the house is sparse? One option is to look for a suitable alternative to operate your HF rig on FT8. That’s what I did. I live in coastal southern New Jersey, on a lagoon (some areas of the country call them canals) 12 miles north of Atlantic City, with limited space to erect a decent antenna. With waterfront living, it’s all about the water and the view so anything that obstructs the view for residents, visitors, or neighbors is a problem. The distance between the back of our house structure and the water bulkhead is around 18 feet. Not much room for a decent antenna as I began to participate in ham radio (). This led me to eventually experimenting with a rain gutter/downspout antenna