"Jim noname" wrote in message
news:SIfvc.34985$eY2.14267@attbi_s02...
hello. I just had a few questions about building 2m antennas.

This will be used indoors. I havent decided if its worth the trouble to
climb around in the attic or if I should just mount it on the wall. I
have
vinyl siding so hopefully that is a plus.

My first is about the classic ground plane built on a so239 connector. I
went with #14 wire and soldered the center wire on no problem. My question
is whats the sturdiest way to stick on the radials? I have a 100 watt
iron
and still can't get a solid connection for the radials.

I was also considering just putting up a vertical dipole on the wall. I've
heard people say they had better luck with the ground plane but maybe they
didnt have the coax ran off to the side far enough or just dropped it
straight down? It seems a little tricky feeding it from the center and
having the antenna vertical but maybe a few wire tacks can fix that.

the 'classic' method of doing a vert dipole is to use a copper pipe for the
lower segment, and running the coax up to the antenna through the pipe. I
built a 6 meter vert dipole that way.

My suggestion however is a j-pole , either in the attic, or you can
literally hang it from a wall.

I built one guy one on by hot gluing an 16 gauge bare wire to the back of a
plastic poster holder in the correct dimensions, all you see is the RG-58
coming down out of it. The hardest part was getting the cable supported
properly.

Mine (made from 12 gauge solid copper) is tied onto a support beam in the
attic with nylon wire ties, and the feed line runs off horizontally, the
choke coil supported on the next beam.