Hi guys, long time no see.

Well for various reasons I missed out on the last two solar peaks and
with another one comin' down the pike not so very far away I'm
determined not to miss out on that one, too. Trouble is, I'm several
floors up in a metropolitan area. It's not as bad as New York, but
nevertheless very far from ideal.

Any suggestions for an antenna type that's discreet (or at least not
too outrageous) that gets out well at HF? Anything from 80m through
10m I'll take whatever I can get. I know given my geographical
limitations I have to be realistic so I'm not looking at winning any
contests or working DX every night. Just don't want to miss out
entirely yet again. Any suggestions?

phaedrus wrote:
Hi guys, long time no see.

Well for various reasons I missed out on the last two solar peaks and
with another one comin' down the pike not so very far away I'm
determined not to miss out on that one, too. Trouble is, I'm several
floors up in a metropolitan area. It's not as bad as New York, but
nevertheless very far from ideal.

Any suggestions for an antenna type that's discreet (or at least not
too outrageous) that gets out well at HF? Anything from 80m through
10m I'll take whatever I can get. I know given my geographical
limitations I have to be realistic so I'm not looking at winning any
contests or working DX every night. Just don't want to miss out
entirely yet again. Any suggestions?

Got a outside facing window?
Balcony?

A 20 foot "black widow" collapsible fishing pole (try Cabelas online..
they run about $20 each, as of a couple years ago) can easily support a
pretty long wire hanging down away from the side of the building. You
have to think about the "other side" of the antenna, but another wire
serves there. If you have multiple windows, or some way to stick the
wire to the side of the building, you can make a sort of "limited
radials" scheme (think of a ground plane vertical turned on its side).

A tuner at the base of the antenna makes the mismatch issue go away, and
you can run the coax from the tuner to your rig. The SGC-239 is
convenient and works pretty well. (if you want to hop around bands or
within a band, having to reset a manual tuner each time gets old, real
fast, especially if the tuner is sitting on the windowsill or balcony
rail at the "feedpoint" and the rig is inside on the table where it's
more comfortable.

lay in a good pile of appropriate EMI suppression cores (I like the #31
mix from Fair-Rite, available in a variety of forms from Mouser and
Digikey, among others) so that you can deal with the inevitable RFI issues.

On Feb 10, 1:29*pm, Jim Lux wrote:
phaedrus wrote:
Hi guys, long time no see.

Well for various reasons I missed out on the last two solar peaks and
with another one comin' down the pike not so very far away I'm
determined not to miss out on that one, too. Trouble is, I'm several
floors up in a metropolitan area. It's not as bad as New York, but
nevertheless very far from ideal.

Any suggestions for an antenna type that's discreet (or at least not
too outrageous) *that gets out well at HF? Anything from 80m through
10m I'll take whatever I can get. I know given my geographical
limitations I have to be realistic so I'm not looking at winning any
contests or working DX every night. Just don't want to miss out
entirely yet again. Any suggestions?

Got a outside facing window?
Balcony?

A 20 foot "black widow" collapsible fishing pole (try Cabelas online..
they run about $20 each, as of a couple years ago) *can easily support a
pretty long wire hanging down away from the side of the building. *You
have to think about the "other side" of the antenna, but another wire
serves there. *If you have multiple windows, or some way to stick the
wire to the side of the building, you can make a sort of "limited
radials" scheme (think of a ground plane vertical turned on its side).

A tuner at the base of the antenna makes the mismatch issue go away, and
you can run the coax from the tuner to your rig. *The SGC-239 is
convenient and works pretty well. (if you want to hop around bands or
within a band, having to reset a manual tuner each time gets old, real
fast, especially if the tuner is sitting on the windowsill or balcony
rail at the "feedpoint" and the rig is inside on the table where it's
more comfortable.

lay in a good pile of appropriate EMI suppression cores (I like the #31
mix from Fair-Rite, available in a variety of forms from Mouser and
Digikey, among others) so that you can deal with the inevitable RFI issues.

I have used something very similar to what Jim mentioned but literally
a collapsible fishing pole with wire tie-wrapped to it and another
dangling from the balcony rail. Matching was provided via MFJ tuner. I
found an antenna mount in the CB section of a truck stop that
consisted of a CB mount welded to a pair of locking pliers.


Jimmie

g very similar to what Jim mentioned but literally
a collapsible fishing pole with wire tie-wrapped to it and another
dangling from the balcony rail. Matching was provided via MFJ tuner. I
found an antenna mount in the CB section of a truck stop that
consisted of a CB mount welded to a pair of locking pliers.


There's also things like a locking pliers (Vise-Grip) welded to a
C-clamp or pipe clamp (which looks like a C-clamp, except the fixed part
is a V shaped piece. There's also a clamp that is like a vise-grip,
except instead of jaws, it has a piece of bicycle chain and a hook. You
wrap the chain around whatever it is you want to clamp to, squeeze the
handle and it locks it in place.
http://www.irwin.com/irwin/consumer/...rwinProd100322
http://www.irwin.com/irwin/consumer/...IrwinCat100299


Take a look at a catalog for stage and theatrical rigging, grip or
gaffer's supplies. There's a wealth of nifty things to attach stuff to
poles/standards/posts, etc. They're always having to temporarily attach
stuff on a set or stage. Things like grip clamps with a baby pin are
useful.. For fun, take a look at the Matthews Meat Axe (pricey, but you
can hang remarkable stuff from it)

http://www.filmtools.com/gripclipandc.html
http://www.stage-n-studio.com/Cat_04...ght-Grid-1.pdf

If you want to get elaborate, look at stuff used to attach cameras to
cars and other stuff.

OK, thanks, guys. Antennas have always been my downfall. I'm afraid I
am not very practical in that respect. I have read about some
resourceful people running a wire around the edge of their living
rooms under the carpet and working DX with 10W but I wouldn't feel
comfortable with that. I believe antennas should be way up in the air
away from other stuff. Stick a wire under your carpet just seems like
taking a bath with your clothes on; there's something not right about
it!

On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:35:19 -0800 (PST), phaedrus
wrote:

I believe antennas should be way up in the air
away from other stuff.

You are way up in the air. The floor is merely an illusion of being
on the ground.

Stick a wire under your carpet just seems like
taking a bath with your clothes on; there's something not right about
it!

Understandable, but it confuses the issue that you are already up in
the air. Rather, it is like taking a very high antenna, and draping a
carpet over it and nailing a floor under it. The building composition
will certainly have an effect. However, if you have heard of
people running a wire around the edge of their living
rooms under the carpet and working DX with 10W
then it would seem reasonable that their building composition is only
marginally affecting their antenna high in the air.

The only unknown that remains is how much YOUR building composition
will impact the same loop under a carpet. This is something that only
you can investigate. It couldn't take much effort to lay out the
antenna and listen to how much you can hear. That would go a great
distance in answering this unknown.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

In article
,
phaedrus wrote:

Any suggestions for an antenna type that's discreet (or at least not
too outrageous) that gets out well at HF? Anything from 80m through
10m I'll take whatever I can get.

Several years ago I was in a second floor apartment with a balcony.
Someone had previously bolted a 3/8-24 antenna mirror mount to the
balcony rail.

I used a 40 Meter Hamstick mobile whip with no additional ground plane
or radials. The Kenwood TS-690S had a built-in tuner that seemed to
work OK. It didn't get out very well, but I was on the air.

I expect it would have worked better on higher bands, probably great on
Ten or Six Meters with the appropriate whip.

Fred
K4DII

For the 'mirror' ground plane, try using a long enough wire from your antenna ground side, to reach the nearest a/c power receptacle. On that end, attach a male 'Banana Plug', this is simply plugged into the female GROUND terminal of the receptacle [the 'fingers' of the plug may need to be spread slightly, to ensure good contact. You'd be effectively using the entire buildings GROUND wiring, as the antenna 'counterpoise'.