"Dwight Stewart" wrote in message hlink.net...
We took this apartment (paid for by the VA) to allow my wife to easily
attend school just down the street. Sadly, there is enough metal in this
building to build a few dozen Army tanks. Even worse, the apartment is
directly above the owner's apartment and he likes to spend a great amount of
time outdoors on the patios out back (the front is directly above the office
entrance). I've tried several homebrew internal antennas, but none of them
would allow me to consistently hit a repeater just a few miles away. We're
hoping that, once the owner gets used to us, he'll eventually allow a small
antenna. But, as it is now, the only way to talk on the radio at home is to
walk out onto the balcony (and the metal in the building even effects that).

Here ya go, Dwight. Came across this and thought about your situation.
This one's already built and for the Novice portion of 40. (Add
Element 1 to your Tech ticket and viola.) Good luck in any case.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ategory=46 74

--
73 de Bert
WA2SI