I live in an apartment and would like to try working some 10m dx. The best thing I have come up with so far is a horizontal dipole made from coax, taking advantage of the velocity factor to shorten the overall length. (10 Meter Dipole Using Coax Velocity Factor To Shorten Antenna by PY2RML) I can place this antenna outside on my patio strung between two columns and it should fit. I think I can get away with this since my patio doesn't face anything people will see. I drew a little sketch. Any thoughts on this idea? Can I use some string between the columns to hang the dipole on so there is no load on the coax?
10m antenna for apartment
- Thread starter steve108
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Consider reading the following:
Coaxial antennas
A 10 meter dipole using 14 AWG is about 16 feet long total length. It may appear electrically longer if using insulated wire. You can then feed the coax into your 1:1 choke. Dipoles are forgiving and can be bent on both sides to accommodate your dimensions.
Personally, I would not use coax, but rather wire.
Coaxial antennas
A 10 meter dipole using 14 AWG is about 16 feet long total length. It may appear electrically longer if using insulated wire. You can then feed the coax into your 1:1 choke. Dipoles are forgiving and can be bent on both sides to accommodate your dimensions.
Personally, I would not use coax, but rather wire.
prcguy
Member
If the railing in the picture is metal and its mass is close to a 1/2 wave on 10m, its parallel and very close to the dipole and will put most of the energy straight up. If there is no metal around the roof overhang you might look at hanging the antenna under the rafters.
prcguy
prcguy
prcguy
Member
Away from the building and anything metal. How much space do you have from the top of the railing to the ceiling and how far does the building stick out past the railing? You might be able to run a vertical using the railing as a ground plane.
prcguy
prcguy
Clamp a cb mirror mount on the railing with a 96" whip on it....
Not to be disrespectful, but what I find most alarming is the encouragement this poor guy is receiving. Not only has he picked a band that is currently weak at best (and will likely be diminishing in the foreseeable future), but that he's using an antenna model that will yield marginalized results.
OP, I posted a link that discusses the failings of using a coaxial element based antenna. The fellow that authored it is well known and has more than a clue. Why not construct a simple dipole using AWG and bend the ends downwards or inwards toward your dwelling if you fear some interaction with the railing. Otherwise, by using a coaxial antenna, you're sacrificing bandwidth as well as a loss of transmitted power.
I only want you to have the best possible opportunity to find some entertainment on a band that is going to be difficult to work under present conditions.
It's possible I'm completely missing something, but I don't think so.
OP, I posted a link that discusses the failings of using a coaxial element based antenna. The fellow that authored it is well known and has more than a clue. Why not construct a simple dipole using AWG and bend the ends downwards or inwards toward your dwelling if you fear some interaction with the railing. Otherwise, by using a coaxial antenna, you're sacrificing bandwidth as well as a loss of transmitted power.
I only want you to have the best possible opportunity to find some entertainment on a band that is going to be difficult to work under present conditions.
It's possible I'm completely missing something, but I don't think so.
VernM
Member
In the past 60-some years, I've used about anything you can think of from an apartment. My last "remote" was a few years in WDC where I had a third floor apartment in a mostly stick-built apartment complex. Antenna was necessary to work into Florida and Iowa on 20 and elsewhere when I could. That included Siberia and Europe. for surprising DX.
The antenna was 60-something feet of Number 12 black insulated wire out of a roll of 100 feet available. MFJ little tuner was used. Wire was laid on the floor at the edges of the efficiency apartment in a "U" shape. Counterpoise was a banana plug at the end of a piece of braid which I plugged into the AC outlet ground after testing it as best I could for no poor wiring to ground.
Anything works better than nothing and you'll learn along the way.
73 es good luck.
The antenna was 60-something feet of Number 12 black insulated wire out of a roll of 100 feet available. MFJ little tuner was used. Wire was laid on the floor at the edges of the efficiency apartment in a "U" shape. Counterpoise was a banana plug at the end of a piece of braid which I plugged into the AC outlet ground after testing it as best I could for no poor wiring to ground.
Anything works better than nothing and you'll learn along the way.
73 es good luck.
You can have very good results with "something" compared to nothing. Regardless, the data is a mouse click away. For the OP: Choose what you will and good DX. If this coaxial antenna doesn't work as you intended, experiment some more and you'll eventually find what works best for you and your conditions.
Patriotic
And hang a flag on it.
When I first read the OP, I thought that if that rail is metal, a 10m hamstick sticking out horizontal on a mag mount would work out well.
And hang a flag on it.
When I first read the OP, I thought that if that rail is metal, a 10m hamstick sticking out horizontal on a mag mount would work out well.
Thanks for the input everyone. Reason for 10m is that I was given a 10m transceiver. I certainly would entertain the idea of a whip antenna, I just figured the railing would not be a large enough ground plane. I have about 5' from the top of the railing to the ceiling and the railing is more or less directly below the outside face of the roof overhang.
You can tilt a whip outward a bit.... There should be enough steel there to work...
KB0VWG
Member
When 10 Is open
When i lived in an apartment and just had my no code at the time I worked Japan from a second story apartment with a cb antenna on a ironing board outside on my porch on the second floor. That was so cool for my first HF contact.
kb0vwg
wqoi992
When i lived in an apartment and just had my no code at the time I worked Japan from a second story apartment with a cb antenna on a ironing board outside on my porch on the second floor. That was so cool for my first HF contact.
kb0vwg
wqoi992
Mount the whip tilted out from the top of the porch. Drop a counterpoise straight down under the whip as a "groundplane". It should 1/4 wave at 10 meters and connected to the shield of the coax cable.
This is a fun one - how about a top-loaded "T" vertical? Normally used for 80 / 160m, but it still can work at 10m when presented with a challenge like this.
Your railing serves as the groundplane.
For an inverted L, you would just run 5 feet upwards, and then 3 feet over horizontally.
But we don't want an inverted L. This time, run 5 feet vertically, and then put 3 feet on each side - ie, a 6-foot horizontal flat top, with your vertical radiator connected in the middle. Mount the flat top an inch or two away from the ceiling.
This way, there is basically no current in the top wire and serves mostly as capacitive loading for a 5-foot vertical. On 10m, that might work and be the easiest thing to install.
The capacitive top-wire also helps keep the current from tapering along it's length at the end, like a regular vertical has, so that 5 feet of vertical is doing the best it can.
Your railing serves as the groundplane.
For an inverted L, you would just run 5 feet upwards, and then 3 feet over horizontally.
But we don't want an inverted L. This time, run 5 feet vertically, and then put 3 feet on each side - ie, a 6-foot horizontal flat top, with your vertical radiator connected in the middle. Mount the flat top an inch or two away from the ceiling.
This way, there is basically no current in the top wire and serves mostly as capacitive loading for a 5-foot vertical. On 10m, that might work and be the easiest thing to install.
The capacitive top-wire also helps keep the current from tapering along it's length at the end, like a regular vertical has, so that 5 feet of vertical is doing the best it can.
KC2GIU
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You can do the CB antenna really easy. It would clamp to the railing as a whip. Test the railing as effective ground. If it isn't, do as the other poster said, find the ground in the nearest AC outlet and ground the railing.
The old school RadioShack days had a good CB (11-meter) + 10-meter whip antenna. It would handle 50W.
A few years ago, I was at a closeout place that had several hundred of these antennas. They sold them for $4 each. I snagged two of them. Thinking back, I should have grabbed 10.
I have a 10-meter dipole wire antenna too. Personally, I wouldn't use it in an apartment setting. The effective radiation would be a concern vs. a whip.
prcguy
Member
Grounding to an AC wall outlet will only invite RF noise onto the antenna and will not provide the ground it needs. A 1/4 wave whip type antenna wants to see a ground plane or the equivalent of lots of sheet metal right under it and a wire running off to an outlet ground is not the same.
prcguy
prcguy
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