"David G. Nagel" wrote in message
...
Joe S. wrote:
I am considering installing a stealth antenna on the porch of my
first-floor apartment and would like some suggestions. Here's the deal.

-- First floor apartment.
-- Porch is a concrete slab, 10 X 10.
-- The ceiling of the porch is the underside of the balcony of the
apartment above me. It's all wooden.
-- Thus, the ceiling of my porch is 10 X 10, wood.

How about I build a 40-meter dipole, 67 feet long, feed with coax and a
balun in the center. Attach the coax and the balun to one of the corner
posts that supports the balcony above my porch. Run the two sides of the
dipole in opposite directions, but, instead of stretching the wire
straight as I normally would if hanging the dipole from trees, towers,
etc., what if I run the wires around the underside of the balcony deck?
This would give me a horizontal loop made up of two pieces of wire, each
33.5 feet long, with the loop being 10 feet on a side, thus, each end of
the dipole would run around underneath the balcony deck and come back
almost to the center of the dipole.

That is -- the balun would be secured to one of the corner posts. One
piece of wire, 33.5 feet long would run straight out from the balun along
the 2 X 8 rim joist for 10 feet, make a 90-deg turn (20 ft), run another
10 feet and make another 90-deg turn (30 ft), and end up 3.5 feet after
the third turn. The other end of the dipole would do the same thing, only
run in the opposite direction. At the balun, the two wires making up the
dipole would run at a 90-deg angle to each other. And, the two wires
would overlap (or be only a few inches apart) for 27 feet of their
length.

I probably didn't explain this idea too well but I'd like to hear some
suggestions. Thanks.


What ever you do make sure that your neighbors upstairs aren't exposed to
excessive RF Radiation.

Dave WD9BDZ

Thanks for the warning but this is not much of a consideration. The
apartment is rented full-time by a local corporation and it's used
occasionally, a few days at a time, by traveling executives who generally
come to town, check in late at night, leave early in the morning, and put in
long days while they are here and never go out onto the balcony.