[Elecraft] Attic Antenna Tradeoff?

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

I spent a decade living in apartments and working QRP with an HW-8 using
"indoor" antennas. I had a lot of fun and a lot of contacts on 40, 30,
20 and 15 meters (I had converted my HW-8 for 30 meter coverage instead
of 80 meters).  

In each case, I was selective about my apartment. I chose a wooden
building and got on the second (top) floor. I was able to access the
"attic" crawl space above my apartment, although all well-built
apartments have fire/security partitions in the attic that limited my
access to the space directly over MY apartment. Still, I was able to put
up a doublet (center fed "dipole" of indefinite length) of 45 to 60 feet
with some bends near the ends. I hooked it directly under the roof
rafters as high as I could go, so the center was at the peak of the roof
gable. I used GOOD insulators. No need to waste any extra RF. Also, I
took care to stay as far away from metal ductwork and house wiring as
possible, although that was only a matter of a few feet away in most
cases. Also, I crossed the paths of conductors at a near a right angle
as possible to minimize inductive coupling. It was fed with "open wire"
line crafted by using two lengths of white hookup wire separated by
lightweight plastic insulators (not many required - no breezes, etc. to
twist them in the attic). I took an "ice pick" and punched two small
holes in the ceiling next to the wall directly over the "shack" location
(a desk situated strategically as near the center of the apartment as
was practical). The white wires ran down the apartment white walls and
were so invisible visitors had to be shown them to see them. The rig sat
on the desk where they ended. Used a small transmatch to load it up. 

I was never short of QSO's at QRP power levels, even DX when 20 or 15
was open. Never had RFI issues at that power level either. 

A couple of observations: 

I noticed that noise levels were very high on 80 and below with that
antenna. No surprise with apartment buildings full of cheap dimmers and
other RFI-generating devices. By and large 40 meters was fine, once I
silenced the cheap dimmers in MY apartment. 20 and 15 were great, since
the antenna at about 20 feet up was a decent height for a good radiation
angle for 20 and up. 

At one apartment my luck raising stations got worse during wet weather.
Trying to get out on VHF using an attic mounted J-pole was useless. That
apartment had a slate-like tile roof (not my first choice, but the
choices were limited). One day I saw a piece of one of the tiles on the
ground, left by someone working on the roof. On a hunch I took into my
apartment and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. It was toasty hot.
It had a LOT of metallic content apparently, because it was quite dry.
No apparent steam or other evidence of water. 

In one apartment with "cathedral" ceilings, I simply ran an end-fed wire
white wire (again invisible) along the highest point of the ceiling and
loaded it against a 1/4 wave 'counterpoise' along the baseboard -
running pretty much in the 'opposite' direction. It worked as well as
the dipole, I think but needed a resonant counterpoise. When I got a
slingshot and fired a lead weight with a length of nylon leader over a
tree out back so I could run the wire up from a window into the tree
(taking care that the far end was clear of the foliage) it worked even
better! 

As another op pointed out, ANY antenna is better than NO antenna! 

Ron AC7AC
K2 #1289