Hello, ladies and gentlemen,

Allow me (Volker) to introduce myself. After a lengty period of SWL, DX
and Utility (including amateur bands) listening I have finally made up
my mind to get a Beginner and Tech license in Spain, where I live.
Spanish ham legislation is quite different from the US (or rest of
Europe, for what that may count) in many ways.

Licenses are class B (52 MHz), class C (Limited HF, does NOT include
50 MHz) and class A (General, all HF and U/V/SHF). Both C and A require
CW at 8, respectively 12 WPM.

You DON'T get your callsign with your ticket, but only after you passed
the exam you're allowed to file an application to operate a Ham station.
The Application has to include a complete listing of all the equipment
operated in the station, including serial numbers (this, as a matter of
fact, leaves you at their mercy, because you need to go out, buy your
rig to give them the serial numbers and file the bills with the
application, but they may reject your application, altought this does
not happen often) and a plan of all the radiating elements and their
supports you plan to install, including calculations for the wind
resistance, snow load (yeah, right), EIRP / ERP data. After you applied,
after a couple of months you will be notified that your application has
been accepted. Then you've three months to complete the installation of
the equipment, and after you notify the telecomm agency that you have
carried out the installation and provided proof ot 3rd-party liability
insurance for the antennas, and they eventually inspected your
installation and equipment you get your callsign.

OTOH, the installation of ham and CB antennas is well covered by the
spanish law. Not your landlord, not your neighbors, not even town
building authorities may forbid the installation of ham antennas, unless
technical reasons or other compelling circumstances speak against it.
Saying "we don't want a ham antenna on our roof" is NOT a compelling
reason, even if supported by the majority of the owners / residents in
an appartment house.

Now to what it comes... B License would give me the well known operating
privileges on 80, 40, 15 and 10 Mts. Well, to "start on a budget" and
since I will need to buy new rig (a used market is unexistant in Spain,
most guys selling on Ebay will not ship here and not be able to provide
an official bill) and your rig (unless full homebrew) REQUIRES a
CE-Certificate here in Spain.

The pount is that our rooftop is only 19 x 15 Meters. Make the numbers
for a half-wawe dipole for 80 Mts (or even 40) and it does not fit. I
could maybe pull a half-wave for 40Mts diagonally across the roof, but I
would then not be able to comply with the mandatory 3 Mts distance to
the TV antenna.

So I looked into alternatives. The G5RV for 40-10 Mts would fit on
either sides of the roof (Actually, and since they are rather cheap, I
plan on installing two, one N-S and one E-W, Since I plan to work both
Africa (southwards) and Europe (the Alps would be in a "blank" on my
"E-W"-Dipole)

The point is that I'd be missing an antenna for 80 mts, a band that
actually interest me more that 20 Mts and above, because I'l mostly be
working at night. The idea was to put up a vertical, but I am a bit
confused about the requirement for a ground. (Besides the fact that the
whole building does not have a ground) I don't think the rooftop counts
as adecuate radio ground for a vertical, right? If I take one with
radials, especially for that band I'm in trouble with the 3 Mts from the
TV antenna again, especially with the radials, or I have to put up a
pole or turret providing at least 5 Mts vertical separation, which would
be asides from expensive, because I'd need to built a foundation for it,
provide additional suspension cords (not needed with the dipoles)

So, what are my options here? Anyone has an idea for a widely available
commercial solution, for 80 Mts or multiband with limited space
requirements? The only other option I've come across is the Watson
Plus80-2, but it seems to perform a lot worse than the G5RV or most
verticals.

Thanks, and best regards to all,

Volker