[Boatanchors] Off Topic Antenna Question

[Bill Stewart]

Good evening all. 

I hope this isn't too far OT and tnx for reading. 

A good friend lives in a town house complex with one on each side of his. We are trying to put up some type of stealth antenna. So far he has a Eagle One vertical, which is just a wire in a telescoping fiberglass pole. The wire/pole, at full extension, is about 31 or so feet. This antenna is mounted on a small deck (on first floor...shack on second floor). Initial tests have not been very good with the Eagle. We are gonna try an inverted vee using the fiberglass pole as a center support, with the ant. ends going to the ends of the deck and parallel to the house...the distance to the wall is only about 10-12 feet, and probably feed it with mini ladder line (300 ohm I think). I think we can squeeze in a 40 mtr inv. vee. He would like to use this antenna on 40-10mtrs if possible. He would like to use coax to get thru the wall and to the tuner. I guess some type of balun will be required. 



 My main question is does the ladder line need to be a specific length & what type of balun should be used....4:1? Due to the small deck size, the antenna will be only about 10-12 feet away from the rear wall and the shack...not a good situation. Also, the antenna will need to be brought down to deck level when not in use. 



Tnx for any advice on the ladder line situation. 

73, Bill K4JYS