However, in a world where hams brag about working a dozen contacts on FT8 while remoted into their radio from the office, using a dummy load on a stick doesn't seem to matter.
Antennas for a one-story rental unit
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KB2GOM
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You might want to have a look at this: Stealth Amateur Radio
And, yes, I wrote the preface for the book, but I have no commercial connection with the author.
And, yes, I wrote the preface for the book, but I have no commercial connection with the author.
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The link to buy the PDF doesn't work. I hope that is a temporary thing.
TheSpaceMann
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Excellent antenna! Works even indoors.Here's a different EFHW, available in various lengths, as short as 24 feet.
TheSpaceMann
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Rain gutter antenna! All you need is a tuner and a 9:1 unun! 
danesgs
Member
Here is your best bet short of a take down antenna. Use the large amount of rain gutter I see. Run a coax run out the window and tap it into the gutter. You will need a tuner and it will not work well very much below 40 meters, but will also not draw attention of your landlord or other folks.
wb3gck.com
The WB3GCK Downspout Antenna Revisited
[A ham friend of mine recently asked me for the details of how I use my rain gutter and downspout as an antenna. I originally did a write-up on it in 1994. That article found its way into several…
wb3gck.com
all depends on what you can put up & what you can afford. A less-than-perfect antenna's better than no antenna (usually).
But it costs the same as an antenna that actually works of similar size and shape. If you have an Ultimax 100 and a resonant EFHW both sitting on a table for the same price and the EFHW beats the pants off the Ultimax, why would you reach for the Ultimax? And you can make a copy of either one for about 1/4 the price, plans are all over the Internet if you want to save some $$ and have a nice little project.
Humm...I've seen some sales catalogs that would disagree (the quality stuff usually costs a few pennies more than the average, or cheap, stuff)...
And there is the problem. A "sales catalog" is a collection of lies to promote a product and generate $$. I test all this stuff side by side in the field and try to counter the salesman's lies so people here can hopefully make a good choice.
If you find a cooperative salesman, all the better. If you don't trust catalogs, I'm sure there are spec (data) sheets available someplace (if the dealer doesn't have them, I've had good luck on either the Internet or from the manufacturer directly)--unless you don't trust those, either?
If you talk with a salesman for amateur antennas that is connected to the company that makes the product you are inquiring about, he will tell you its the best thing since Nikola Tesla, because it puts $$ in his pocket. I've scoured the Dayton Hamventon for 25yrs talking with all the antenna mfrs and they all have wild false claims about their products and how theirs will outperform the guy across the isle with a similar looking unit.
The SGC tuner guy will tell you their tuner with a whip is better than a resonant antenna which is a lie. The Yaesu guy will tell you his ATAS dummy load will work about as good as that $1,000 screwdriver, which it can't. The GAP guy will swear their antenna will outperform a Cushcraft or Hy-Gain or Hustler vertical when in fact it doesn't. And by a long shot. In reality the guy you are talking with probably has no clue and is told what to say and most of the claims are BS. This is especially true with wire antennas. Commercial antenna specs are a little more trustworthy on gain and pattern figures but not amateur. Ok maybe you can believe the specs from M2 antennas or MyAntennas and a few others but its rare.
So while most people are getting up and going to work every day, I'm probably out testing more antennas in the field to see how they work and how far fetched the specs are. That's what I do. And since we are talking specifically about the Ultimax, which is a 9:1 balun type, they are proven time and time over to be inferior to a resonant end fed half wave of similar size. When you shrink them down smaller than a similar band EFHW like 24ft long, they are dreadful.
Even Danny at MyAntennas makes a 9:1 type end fed only because he can't convince some people that resonant EFHWs are superior. His 9:1 is built better than the Ultimax and handles about the same power for a similar price but if you call him and ask about it he will plead with you not to buy it and to get an EFHW instead, because he wants you to be happy. That's how bad the Ultimax and the Maple Leaf and the EARCHI, and all the other 9:1 types are. But you won't know that reading their advertising.
The SGC tuner guy will tell you their tuner with a whip is better than a resonant antenna which is a lie. The Yaesu guy will tell you his ATAS dummy load will work about as good as that $1,000 screwdriver, which it can't. The GAP guy will swear their antenna will outperform a Cushcraft or Hy-Gain or Hustler vertical when in fact it doesn't. And by a long shot. In reality the guy you are talking with probably has no clue and is told what to say and most of the claims are BS. This is especially true with wire antennas. Commercial antenna specs are a little more trustworthy on gain and pattern figures but not amateur. Ok maybe you can believe the specs from M2 antennas or MyAntennas and a few others but its rare.
So while most people are getting up and going to work every day, I'm probably out testing more antennas in the field to see how they work and how far fetched the specs are. That's what I do. And since we are talking specifically about the Ultimax, which is a 9:1 balun type, they are proven time and time over to be inferior to a resonant end fed half wave of similar size. When you shrink them down smaller than a similar band EFHW like 24ft long, they are dreadful.
Even Danny at MyAntennas makes a 9:1 type end fed only because he can't convince some people that resonant EFHWs are superior. His 9:1 is built better than the Ultimax and handles about the same power for a similar price but if you call him and ask about it he will plead with you not to buy it and to get an EFHW instead, because he wants you to be happy. That's how bad the Ultimax and the Maple Leaf and the EARCHI, and all the other 9:1 types are. But you won't know that reading their advertising.
The first item is true only if they work on commission. Even then they have to be careful of their claims so they don't get sued for false advertising.
As for the second item, I've been doing the same thing since the early 1970s, and most others here (to varying degree) are doing that also.
TheSpaceMann
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True, but it can get you on the are in situations where antennas are restricted! I have worked a lot of DX with it when the conditions were favorable. It's basically a wire with a 9:1 unun!
18q3201
Newbie
I would wager that the apartment manager never allowed K9DWB to string wire all over the place, nor put concrete blocks, etc up on the roof.
May have even figured him to be some sort of nut and decided not to even take him on as a tenant.
May have even figured him to be some sort of nut and decided not to even take him on as a tenant.
...although I've heard apartment maintenance people getting a bit creative, like the one I heard about: he made sure all the metal rain gutters were electrically connected, isolated the downspouts (so no one would get electrocuted), then fed the gutters with a tuner...
TheSpaceMann
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Reminds me of a rental unit that I once occupied. The landlord manager said no way, until I skipped him a Benjamin!
Saw this page over the weekend
alphaantenna.com
6-160M HOA Buster HF base antenna defeats your HOA
The 6-160 meter HOA Buster HF base antenna defeats the rules imposed upon amateur ham radio operators by by Home Owner Associations.
alphaantenna.com
Alpha Antenna has proven to me over and over again they are pretty clueless on antenna design and they outright lie about some of their products. All I can say is buyer beware.
Saw this page over the weekend
6-160M HOA Buster HF base antenna defeats your HOA
The 6-160 meter HOA Buster HF base antenna defeats the rules imposed upon amateur ham radio operators by by Home Owner Associations.
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