[Heathkit] Antenna book query

[Donald Spoon]

Ken,   I am struggling with the same problem right now, and have several 
months of "research" (reading articles).  I have about 85-90 feet of 
space diagonally    among trees in my back yard to play with. The main 
thing I have learned is that is all is a matter of how many tradeoffs 
you are willing to make.  I have "traded off" 80 meters, and am focused 
on 40 and below.  About a week ago I tested the waters with a 85 foot 
long wire with a 17' counterpoise, which worked somewhat on 40 and 20.  
Today I put up an End-Fed Half Wave Zepp for 40 meters, which seems to 
be beyond the tuning ranges of all my Antenna Couplers so far.  I guess 
I have some feedline trimming / experimentation to do!

I have found the AntennaX site useful for it's discussions.   It does 
cost to get full access, although they do have "guest" rooms that are 
free.  Off that site you an get to a pretty good site on the notes from 
L.B. Cebik, W4RNL (Silent Key), a well know Antenna Guru.  It is a free 
site but requires registration.  Here is a direct link to the home 
page:  http://www.cebik.com/.  Finally, I have Googled a lot and found 
many articles on "stealth" antennas.  Some are good, others are less 
than useful....  There is a LOT of hype around so beware!  If you find 
something that seems to good to be true, it probably is!  The AntennaX 
site will take the latest fad and submit it to some pretty good 
scrutiny, then pass judgment.

Good luck!  I have a list of projects that I am going to try.  Feel free 
to contact me B/C to exchange notes!

-Don Spoon-
K0APK

 
Ken Kaplan wrote:
> It looks like ARRL has about 39 publications in the antenna category 
> (some are Smith charts). Anyone here have a suggestion about which one 
> to get? I can't afford them all <g>. I live in a CCR neighborhood. If it 
> can be seen from the street, I'm in trouble. I have a 2 story home so I 
> can do a little bit of hiding. I'd like to try to get on 80, 40, 20. No 
> beams, quads or long dipoles will fit. I suppose I could hid a bedspring 
> somewhere <g>. Short of moving to more reasonable neighborhood, I've 
> heard that some have had a bit of success with things they have been 
> able to hid in an attic. I have one of those going to waste right now. 
> Any of the ARRL books cover this kind of challenge? I'm not looking for 
> EME and I'm not into contests - just fun contacts wherever I can make 
> them with my SB-102.
>
> Thanks,
> Ken
>