attic or outside

[Monster75]

thought i would do a poll here and see how many folks have there antenna in the attic vs outside..

 

[w6pea]

Attic or Outside

I live in a condo. I am sort of pushing the limit on antennas on my balcony My HOA (Nazi's) are not too happy with me any way. So I sort of need to hide any more antennas I put up.
Also "She Who Must be Obeyed" said no more holes drilled in the exterior walls..

 

[mciupa]

Outside for the last twenty four years, it'll probably still be there after I'm six feet under.

 

[jackj]

They work best when outside. The roof as well as snow, rain and ice will attenuate the signals somewhat. 400 MHz and above doesn't penetrate solids very well, tends to bounce off. Mine are all outside on my tower but if the attic is your only option then go for it.

 

[n5usr]

Both, although I prefer outside. As was mentioned already, the roof really attenuates signals especially UHF and above. But I don't have enough room outside for everything I want, and a few things I don't really need an *excellent* antenna location so the attic works for those.

The central HVAC has a sheetmetal plenum the top of which is conveniently located near my radio bench, so it has sprouted a few receive-only UHF and 800MHz antennas for scanners. There are also a couple J-poles up there for ham radio, and at one point a 10M dipole but that's down. May see if I can fit a 30M dipole, I think I might have room for that. (My attic is huge! )

Outside is a small forest of metal!

One nice advantage to attic antennas - if a nasty ice storm comes along, all the outdoor stuff gets a heavy coating and performance stinks. Especially for transmitting, the SWR goes sky high. The attic antennas will still work fine.

 

[N4DES]

I have both...don't see much of a difference in any of the bands when I switch back and forth.
There isn't an option for "both" so I'm not voting.

 

[NWI_Scanner_Guy]

Unfortunately, outside isn't an option for me at the moment, so both my 2 meter J-Pole and a "general purpose" scanner antenna are in the attic. I'm hoping that that will change soon.

 

[ampulman]

I have been forbidden to climb ladders anymore, so everything is in the attic.

Amp

 

[Oldglide]

No brainer, outside and high if posible

Of course it's not always possible to put one outside. In my experience outside, even lower than inside has always worked better for me. Attics are a NASTY place for most antennas. jackj said it best, high freqs just don't receive well. Depending on your roofing material and or insulation, you may not get any reception at all.

 

[impalass427]

Outside, 10 antennas on 90ft Rohn 25 tower. Tip of Low Band base antenna = 117ft. My neighbors dont see it, too many trees. Been up since 1985

 

[Audiodave1]

I have antennas inside and out. (3 different addresees over the years)
I live in a metro area where most signals are pretty strong in my area but monitor a few 800/900 systems that are more distant with the indoor 900 antenna.

http://forums.radioreference.com/pi...130989-audiodaves-monitoring-post-2009-a.html

I also monitor the 415 band, mil-air and 460Mhz from the attic. Most all transmitters are 10-15mi away.

Assuming the your shingles do not have aluminum backing you should be good to go.

I notice little difference unless the roof is wet or snow packed but that is not a total show stopper either. I see more (positive) difference in RX strength when the leaves fall off the large trees around me.

Remember to ground your attic antennas just like outdoor antennas.

Dave

 

[Nasby]

Mine's in the attic because of the darn homeowner's association. But given the chance, it would be high on the rooftop!!

 

[b7spectra]

Boss says no towers or antennas on the house. Works just fine in the attic!

 

[scannersnstuff]

i rent my dwelling. never asked my landlord. although he is a decent fellow, i don't want the added responsibility of taking a lightning strike. my radioshack <decent> discone is up in the attic, mounted to an old lamp stand. it's about 20' or so above ground. i have this connected to a stridsberg active moulticoupler, to 4 base scanner's. the setup work's fairly well. 2 of my obstacles are. 1. have a powerhouse fm radio antenna right up the street from me. 2. use the cheapo radioshack crap cable. the space between the attic door is too small for the thicker cable. i only have a 50' run of cable however.
the other component is, my base scanner's are all in my "radio room". when i'm in the rest of my house, i'm relegated to using handheld scanner's,commercial and amateur gear for monitoring. work's out o.k.

 

[NYRHKY94]

One Scantenna mounted outside at 35' (picture below) connected to 8 scanners via an Electroline EDA-UG 2802 splitter.

 

[alfish]

outside better reception for me.

 

[RoninJoliet]

Three outside up 35'=2-Channel Master Triband 5094A (discontinued), 1)RShack 25-1.3mgz.....Three in attic=3-RShack groundplane 25-1.3, one in the attic has 30'RG6 LLoss and receives great on the RS197 the ILL-Starcom Digital 700/800 system, being a "multisite system the attic just receives one tower instead of three and has no dropouts on the 700/800 system......