Tough 2 meter antenna request

[W8FFG]

Hi all!
I know that this may be a tough one. My Sister WD8HU Mary is a disabled person who lives in an apartment. I set her up with a diamond mag mount antenna with a metal plate on the windowsill in which she can get into a repeater 40 miles away marginally. It has a good low swr. I have racked my brain trying to think of some sort of compact directional high gain antenna that she could use in her apartment to get into the repeater reliably.

Many many thanks in advance for any suggestions.

W8FFG. Bill

 

[nd5y]

Probably the smallest directional antenna with gain over a dipole is a Moxon Rectangle.

https://www.antenna2.net/cebik/content/moxon/moxpage.html

 

[mmckenna]

I needed a UHF Yagi to DF some interference. It was at the start of COVID, so it was long lead times for anything I'd order.
I built one of the "tape measure" Yagi's and it worked surprisingly well. Nice thing about it was that it was nearly unbreakable, so as I was driving around taking plots, I could just toss it in the back of the truck.
Might be a good, easy to build option for you, and since it's unbreakable, it's pretty tough.

Bonus points for using the "free" tape measures they are always giving away at Harbor Freight.

 

[mass-man]

Just talked to a fellow simplex on a tape measure 3 element beam!!!

 

[AB4BF]

Hi all!
I know that this may be a tough one. My Sister WD8HU Mary is a disabled person who lives in an apartment. I set her up with a diamond mag mount antenna with a metal plate on the windowsill in which she can get into a repeater 40 miles away marginally. It has a good low swr. I have racked my brain trying to think of some sort of compact directional high gain antenna that she could use in her apartment to get into the repeater reliably.

Many many thanks in advance for any suggestions.

W8FFG. Bill

Is there any way you could mount the plate at the top of the window and then mount the antenna underneath the plate pointing down? If the window is tall enough, that could give you two to three feet of more height. Just a little bit of height sometimes gives good results. Or, mount the plate on the ceiling or eave if that is where the window is. That would give two to three feet even more height. Just thinking outside the box...

 

[hazrat8990]

Any thoughts of building a simple J-Pole?? Quick and easy to build, has a bit of gain, and doesn't require a ground plane.

 

[AK9R]

J-poles are, in essence, end-fed half-wave antennas. They have the same gain as a half-wave dipole. They may have some apparent gain over compromised antennas, such as handheld rubber ducks. With J-poles, you also need to be very careful of their surroundings. The lower quarter-wave portion of a J-pole is a transformer. Metallic objects in the field of that transformer can have negative effects on a J-pole.

 

[nd5y]

Friends don't let friends use J-poles.

 

[mrweather]

Why not? It's a simple and cost-effective build and it works.

 

[nd5y]

Why not? It's a simple and cost-effective build and it works.

If J-poles are so good then why are they not currently or ever in the past made by Andrew, Decibel, Phelps-Dodge, Commscope, Comprod, Sinclair, Telewave, etc. and why do you never see them in commercial or government installations?

 

[rf_patriot200]

If J-poles are so good then why are they not currently or ever in the past made by Andrew, Decibel, Phelps-Dodge, Commscope, Comprod, Sinclair, Telewave, etc. and why do you never see them in commercial or government installations?

J poles are Cheap to build and work well. Those companies haven't gotten where they are today by going with "cheap". They LOVE $.

 

[mrweather]

If J-poles are so good then why are they not currently or ever in the past made by Andrew, Decibel, Phelps-Dodge, Commscope, Comprod, Sinclair, Telewave, etc. and why do you never see them in commercial or government installations?

Never said they worked well. But ham radio is about experimenting and doing things yourself.

I've built a few "copper cacti" over the years and they were durable and worked.

 

[Echo4Thirty]

If J-poles are so good then why are they not currently or ever in the past made by Andrew, Decibel, Phelps-Dodge, Commscope, Comprod, Sinclair, Telewave, etc. and why do you never see them in commercial or government installations?

Some commercial entity is making them. I see them from time to time for data radio usage. Typically flood or air quality monitors.

 

[KevinC]

Some commercial entity is making them. I see them from time to time for data radio usage. Typically flood or air quality monitors.

That's because the guys that took care of the flood monitors were (are?) hams.

 

[Echo4Thirty]

Pffft. If that were the case they would have all of them on AllStar on the East Coast Reflector!

or or or on all 8 GMRS pairs! lol

Seriously though, is that the reason? I can find ZERO commercial J-poles and have always wondered if they went with a cheap ham antenna and retuned it to the 170s. It woudlnt be the first commercial install I have seen do that.

 

[KevinC]

Pffft. If that were the case they would have all of them on AllStar on the East Coast Reflector!

or or or on all 8 GMRS pairs! lol

Seriously though, is that the reason? I can find ZERO commercial J-poles and have always wondered if they went with a cheap ham antenna and retuned it to the 170s. It woudlnt be the first commercial install I have seen do that.

Yes, that's the reason. A lot are now a mobile antenna with a ground plane kit.

 

[bill4long]

J-poles are, in essence, end-fed half-wave antennas. They have the same gain as a half-wave dipole. They may have some apparent gain over compromised antennas, such as handheld rubber ducks. With J-poles, you also need to be very careful of their surroundings. The lower quarter-wave portion of a J-pole is a transformer. Metallic objects in the field of that transformer can have negative effects on a J-pole.

J-Poles have a null, which one should be aware of.

 

[bill4long]

Hi all!
I know that this may be a tough one. My Sister WD8HU Mary is a disabled person who lives in an apartment. I set her up with a diamond mag mount antenna with a metal plate on the windowsill in which she can get into a repeater 40 miles away marginally. It has a good low swr. I have racked my brain trying to think of some sort of compact directional high gain antenna that she could use in her apartment to get into the repeater reliably.

Many many thanks in advance for any suggestions.

W8FFG. Bill

1. Does she have a balcony?
2. Would management allow a small antenna in the attack?
3. How about a vertical dipole hidden up in a nearby tree?
4. Maybe setup a remote using Allstar, IRLP or EchoLink, from her apt to somewhere near the repeater.

Etc. Time to think way outside the box.

 

[mmckenna]

There's no big deal with J-pole antennas. They are 1/2 wave and it's easy enough for a commercial company to build a suitable antenna that works better.

I think the only reason the hams like the J-poles is because they are easy to build with minimal experience. I had one as a new ham and it worked well, but it wasn't anything spectacular.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Hi all!
I know that this may be a tough one. My Sister WD8HU Mary is a disabled person who lives in an apartment. I set her up with a diamond mag mount antenna with a metal plate on the windowsill in which she can get into a repeater 40 miles away marginally. It has a good low swr. I have racked my brain trying to think of some sort of compact directional high gain antenna that she could use in her apartment to get into the repeater reliably.

Many many thanks in advance for any suggestions.

W8FFG. Bill

If maybe she is on the wrong side of the building or a ground floor, perhaps management or neighbor would allow her to install a remote base on that repeater pair in another apartment or common area?