[Elecraft] Apartment/condo antenna

[Phil Hystad]

Apartment antenna ideas:

I knew of a guy in a second floor apartment that ran an end-fed long wire out of his apartment deck railing.  It was an almost invisible wire (from the ground looking up into the sky) that ran out to a tree on the other side of the parking lot.  He would use the railing itself (metal) as a ground and often dangle another wire down to almost ground level during his night-time romps into the 80-meter band.  I used to regularly chat with him on 80 meters and his signal was usually Q5 copy.

Another nearby friend lived with his wife in a ground level apartment at the end of the building complex.  Next to the complex where he lived was a stand of fir and cedar trees.  He ran coax out along the ground, through a drainage pipe under a walkway and then through tall weeds and grass to the trees where he had strung up some wires.  Actually, he had some help from his wife in stringing up some of the wires into the trees because he was legally blind (he could see only up very close).   He also had some ground wire counterpoise to his long wire style antenna.  He had no trouble with 80 and 40 meters.  I am not sure how he did on the other bands.  And, he has since moved where he now has "real" antennas.

Apartment antennas often work quite well but it also an opportunity to get creative in your antenna ideas.  Yes, you can probably load up that balcony railing -- better yet, if you are on a building with a string of separate but similar balconies then surreptitiously wire them together in a horizontal string to create a kind of lumped horizontal antenna.  Surely that would get a signal out (and, maybe into everyone's TV set too).

73, phil, K7PEH



On May 26, 2014, at 7:34 AM, Phil Wheeler <w7ox at socal.rr.com> wrote:

> I wonder which bands Dave G. plans to work?
> 
> Phil w7ox
> 
> On 5/25/14, 6:37 PM, David Patino wrote:
>> I have a MFJ 1622 and am on a 2nd floor apartment. It actually works quite well clamped to my balcony railing, as long as the counterpoise is run out correctly. That's actually the biggest problem with my area. It's a bit hard to hide the counterpoise since it has to go down to the ground first and vegetation around here is sparse. I've tried it in vertical position inside my balcony, and while I was still able to make some contacts on HT65, it was better with it clamped to the railing and sticking out.
>> 
>> The MFJ might be a bit big to pass off as a flag pole though. The coil portion is about as big around as a soda can and with the whip extended the total length is around 70" long.
>> 
>> I've heard good things about the MFJ Super Hi-Q loop antennas.. they can be mounted vertically inside the balcony area. They are bit pricey compared to the 1622 though.
>> 
>> 73's, Dave
>> N9PBJ
>> 
>> On 5/25/2014 7:53 PM, David Guernsey via Elecraft wrote:
>>> I am moving to a condo on the 2nd floor of a brick and concrete building.  The condo rules do not allow anything to extend over the balcony railings.  However, they do allow flag pole to be "clamped" to the railing of the balcony. I have considered an mfj 1622 antenna inside of a pvc pipe as my flag pole.  Any ideas?
>>> 
>>>  73 de Dave KJ6CBS
> 
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