In almost fifty years of hamming I never had an antenna
that was anywhere near ideal. For many years I couldn't measure let alone
spell SWR! I tied the wire onto the output of the pi-network and
never considered antenna tuners. I thought the cold water pipe was great and all
I needed. My antennas were too high, too low, or tilted the
wrong way. Most were bent around corners, and resembled
the fractal. Propagation let me think that if I got the signal into
the air it would bounce around till I made a contact. If I heard
someone I could usually work them. The RF burns were thrilling, and
told me that I had output! I fired my arrows into
the air and never ceased having fun. Ignorance was bliss. If
I'd known much about antenna theory I'd still be working on the plans
instead of on the air!

Irv VE6BP


"R. Scott" wrote:

"Irv Finkleman" wrote in message
...
You won't know until you try. A 20m dipole should be easy enough to
get into any attic, and give it a shot. You might be pleasantly
surprised, and that odds that you'll be terribly disappointed are
pretty small.

Irv VE6BP

I've used lots of Dipoles in weird places and have gotten contacts. In low
sunspot its not much
but your still communicating. I used an Inverted L next to a apt building
from my 2nd floor apartment
and worked the world (High Sunspot time) . Remember, beams were not
really in big use until the 40s.
Even then it took a while for it to catch on.

Scotty W7PSK.

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Irv Finkleman,
Grampa/Ex-Navy/Old Fart/Ham Radio VE6BP
Calgary, Alberta, Canada