[HCARC] Attic antennas

[SARA SANDSTROM]

Howdy, 

There are at least a couple of you interested in attic antennas.  Whenever I talk to someone using an attic antenna or other stealth antenna , I ask them about it.  One person, Bill, WB4DBO, directed me to his page on qrz.com.  If you go to WB4 DBO and go down to the last 5 photographs, Bill has pictures of his Bazooka dipoles in his attic.  Bill uses a K3 with a built in auto tuner and says the built in tuner handles the SWR on his dipoles without any problems.   

Another station I recently talked to had taken is dipole and pushed the wires under the bottom ends of the shingles on his roof.  In his case, the dipole is 'almost' outside.  If you have a pitched roof with asphalt shingles, it looks like a pretty neat idea and the antenna is pretty well hiden.  One thing you might be consider is the type of insulation used in your house.  From what I can see of mine, it looks like there is an insulation panel under the roof that has aluminum foil on the side facing down.  There is plywood on top of the insulation and a metal roof above that.  Needless to say, an attic antenna would not be practical for me! 

Kerry