On Fri, 5 Dec 2003 14:13:37 -0500, "VE3TMT" wrote:


"'Doc" wrote in message ...
Is there any way you could
attach a wire doublet of some length to the eaves or peak of
your roof? Doesn't necessarily have to be of any particular
lengths or symetrical shape Longer is better), although that
would peobably help. Any height is better than no height,
as you'll be finding out...

Hello Doc,

I am on the ground floor of a two level apartment building. No roof to get
at and no eaves. My unit itself has 3 floors counting the basement where
the shack is. I was running a vertical, about 25' hung from under the
balcony above me, totally invisible, except being so close to the building
itself, the noise levels on 40 and 20 made those bands useless. Also being
vertically polarized, it was causing RFI on the computer upstairs, and
probably the neighbours as well. I have no way of running anything
horizontal above the ground as this would involve climbing and hard to do
that without the neighbours noticing. I have a feeling the property managers
will be doing some work on the balconies in the spring anyway, so the
antenna would surely be noticed then. I think I am going to go for the
ground laid antenna and hope for the best. My other alternative is a 8' CB
whip with a flag on the top, which has been up before without any problems.
This antenna is however too short to load on 40 with the tuner.

Thanks for all the input guys, I will scratch my head some more, maybe I
will think of some way to hang something from the balcony.


HI all

In your Circumstance I would opt for a small transmitting loop.. that
you could set out when on the air and bring in when not.. Though the
small loop is very Hi-Q and has to be retuned every few KHZ. it would
be a good compromise for you as they work really well when mounted
vertically close to the ground. they offer all radiation angles from
0 to 90 degrees and will give you plenty of qso's .. give it some
thought and I bet you can even find ways to hid one.. in the yard.

73 , Dave KC1DI

P.S. a google search for small transmitting loop will return numerous
pages to explore on the topic.