New to HAM - Antenna question

[W4PRW]

Greetings. I am looking for advice/help with some antenna ideas and hoping some of you veterans might help. Since I was about 13 I have been interested in this hobby and now 30 years later I am finally licensed. I hope to take the general in the next month or two to expand my capabilities.

Recently I caved to my wife and bought the home of her dreams. And yes unfortunately it has an HOA, but I’m not going to let that stop me. I am strongly considering a flag pole antenna. Was hoping to find someone that has one, has some other stealth antennas, or an attic setup. If anyone has time, I would appreciate some advice, ideas, or spend some time with someone to see their setup to see if it’s possible to do something similar.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ko6jw_2]

First of all it is not HAM - just ham. It's not an acronym for anything. Next you might consider buying an ARRL Antenna Handbook. You will find designs and suggestions for limited space antennas. You might also want to consider the various portable HF antennas on the market - loops and screwdriver types. You could set such a thing up on a patio and then take it inside when not in use. Also, if you want to experiment with antennas get a good SWR meter or, even better, an antenna analyzer. Limited space antennas require some experimentation. You can follow someone's design to the letter, but your individual circumstances (roofing material for an attic antenna, for example) will introduce variables that you can't anticipate.

Flagpole antennas (like most verticals) need a buried counterpoise. Your HOA may not be too happy with your digging efforts. Since you are in Florida, maybe you can convince them that your ability to communicate in an emergency will benefit the whole community and get them to grant an exemption.

 

[prcguy]

As mentioned, an HF vertical disguised as a flagpole can work very well but you need a very good ground plane under it. You can bury lots of wires or galvanized chicken wire or hardware cloth can give better results for less real estate.

Besides a ground plane, the key to success is an auto antenna tuner at the base of the vertical, unless its tuned to the band you need. Some verticals have a 4:1 or 6:1 balun at the base instead of an auto tuner and the performance really suffers compared to a tuner at the base.

You can also consider loading up your metal rain gutters or hiding a thin wire dipole around the eaves of the house, etc. Federal law says you are entitled to have a dish antenna up to 1m in size for TV reception and you can mount a fake one on the roof and use the coax and dish as a end fed antenna. There are lots of ways to get an antenna up if you use some imagination.
prcguy
prcguy

 

[spongella]

Welcome to the amateur radio community. First off, are you interested in an HF or VHF/UHF antenna? Do you have an attic where an antenna can be erected? A balcony? High shrubbery where an antenna such as a small vertical can be hidden? Also ARRL also published a book on stealth antennas, found that one at our local library, might want to check that one out.

 

[jim202]

You didn't mention what frequency range your interested in using.

Depending on the height of your attic, you probably can install some folded dipole antennas for the VHF and UHF operation. Just remember that repeater antenna use is vertical. HF antenna use can be either vertical or horizontal.

If you have metal gutters around the house, you could use those on HF with an antenna tuner. Just try to pick the longest ones. Depending on how your house is built, you may be able to have your coax come out under the overhang.

One major point is that all new construction has required that fire stops be inserted inside the walls about half way up from the floor to the ceiling. So even if you can get up into the attic, the ability to install an outlet type box at the normal height of 18 inches off the floor, your not going to be able to have an easy run all the way up to the attic.

If you have a high attic, you should be able to use a 5 foot long drill and make a hole in the fire stop from the attic sill plate. Just be careful trying to drill the fire stop. You need to make sure the drill is centered in the wall and not on the edge where you could break through the sheet rock and really upset the wife with the damage you can make.

The other issue that you may run into is the wall could have insulation inside it. This makes for a hard time trying to drill the fire stop and snake the wire. I have cheated and pushed aside the fiberglass insulation in order to see what I was doing to drill the hole in the fire stop. I drill like a 1 inch hole in the top sill plate. This allows you to use a flashlight to help you see what your doing at the fire stop.

Good luck on your antenna efforts.