For the past decade I have used a patch panel on the wall for my antenna farm up in the attic. It allowed me to swap antennas around easily to fit my needs. I had a carpenter take down the drywall between two studs and run the coaxes up after drilling thru the wall cap. A year or two later I realized we made a huge mistake at that time and strapped the coaxes to the studs. Leaving them loos would have made my life a lot easier later! My kid came out for vacation, and I put him to work. We took down that drywall again, un-strapped the coaxes and cut out a slot for a patch panel. (See https://forums.radioreference.com/threads/patch-panel.366998/) I ordered a custom panel and got it installed. It worked great but had some issues. First, it induces a bit of loss due to having a coupler and patch cable required. Second, I found that some of the coax connectors started to fail due to the sharp bend needed at the rear of the panel.
In addition, as my radio shack has stabilized, I have come to realize I only need a subset of the antennas, especially since I built my 16-port multicoupler and have an outside scanner antenna to feed it. I have also reduced my radios to those I actually use all the time. I found I only really need that one scanner antenna, a couple dual bands for ham work and a GMRS antenna. In addition, I have a couple wire dipoles (20M and 10M in the attic and a 20M dipole hidden on the edge of my HOA home. This coming winter I will likely add a flagpole OCFD out in the yard, but that coax will come into the house directly from the side wall.
The main issue with the patch panel however has been location-based. When I moved in, I the carpenter I hired ran the initial coax cables for me. He was nimble, I certainly am not. When we put in the patch panel the kid did the attic work, he was also much nimbler than I. The prime place on the wall for the patch panel turned out to be too close to the edge of the house, making access to the top difficult to access. When I replaced some coax runs with a friend a few years ago, (See https://forums.radioreference.com/t...w-antennas-for-the-attic.437057/#post-3628132) I was unable to get to it, he was barely able to. He is a good friend, but he said that was the last time he would go up there.
One day recently as I was recuperating from surgery, sitting in my Lazy Boy watching some TV show or something in my man cave, I was thinking about this situation. I wanted to replace the coax runs with LMR400 Ultra Flex and run them directly from the radios to the antennas. I also wanted to relocate some of the attic antennas to a different section. I dreaded trying to run them thru the wall where the patch panel was, there was no way I would be able to do that without hired help.
Then there were issues with the location of the antennas within the attic. The easier (and closer) side of the attic to access has two main problems; the first being proximity to metal duct work for the HVAC. The second was due to the proximity to my smoke/CO detectors. While I could use 25- or 35-foot coax runs for antennas there, when I would transmit on a 2M, 440, 220 or GMRS frequency often one of the detectors would start chirping. I realized that the antennas directly above the bedrooms or main hallway were the ones causing the chirping.
Relocating those antennas to the other side of the attic would solve both the chirping and the issues with the HVAC ducts. Over the winter I relocated one of the dual-band antennas to that area and, even though I had to add a double-female coupler and a 10-foot cable in order for it to reach it still worked better than it did above the bedrooms and with the shorter coax run.
That has its own issues though. Getting to that side means laying down on a plywood floor, rolling under a large flexible air intake duct and onto joists. It ain’t easy for anybody, especially a portly fellow like me with bad knees and the coordination of a drunk platypus. I plan on getting some plywood to tack down to the joists on the far side of that duct to make my life a little easier.
Over time I thought of a plan. I would take a ten foot long 3-inch PVC pipe and run it into the attic from my office. By installing it in the corner between my radio and computer desks it would place the access within 3 feet of my attic hatch, right next to the plywood walkway leading to the HVAC air handler/furnace. I would put a sanitary tee at the bottom; this has a bit of a curve to allow the coaxes to run out and give a decent base to stand on the tile floor. I might look at some sort of base for that, but I don’t think that will be necessary. By putting it in that corner it would not be visible except when you are in the office, it is the only corner that works well for access and aesthetics.
I went to the local Lowes and bought the PVC pipe, a sanitary tee and a 3.5-inch hole saw. With the pipe actually measuring out at 10’ 2” and the 6-inches of elevation from the tee, that would have about 8-inches of pipe sticking out above the ceiling. That should be plenty, but if I need more due to the insulation, I can easily add a pipe coupler and a short piece of the same pipe to extend it.
The plan is to get this installed and the coax run before the painters come later this summer. I will then have them patch the hole where the patch panel was and fill in the hole in the wall cap with fire putty. They can paint the pipe the same color as the walls. The wife has already approved this plan and is thinking of some way to decorate the pipe down the road.
As for the coax runs, I will reuse the 3 RG-58’s I have for the existing HF antennas. For the scanner, the 2 dual-banders and the GMRS antennas I will get or make 4 75-foot runs of LMR400 UltraFlex, two with N-connectors at both ends and two with PL-259’s. These will be easy to run thru the pipe, and I can do all that myself. I will leave about 15 feet in the office, plenty enough to run along the floor from the pipe to the desk leg, up the leg and over to the radios. I have to leave a few feet extra as that desk is a standing desk and goes up and down a few feet. With the 10-foot ceiling height that leaves about 50 feet left to get to the antennas from the pipe, enough to get to all 4 corners of the attic.
I think I can get the pipe installed within the next week or so, I have to do the attic work in the early morning because, even in April and May, it gets hot in Phoenix by mid-morning, and the attic is not air conditioned. I will reroute the HF antenna coaxes right away and will get around to obtaining the new LMR400UF runs later.
I am open to suggestions on any better ways to do this project!
In addition, as my radio shack has stabilized, I have come to realize I only need a subset of the antennas, especially since I built my 16-port multicoupler and have an outside scanner antenna to feed it. I have also reduced my radios to those I actually use all the time. I found I only really need that one scanner antenna, a couple dual bands for ham work and a GMRS antenna. In addition, I have a couple wire dipoles (20M and 10M in the attic and a 20M dipole hidden on the edge of my HOA home. This coming winter I will likely add a flagpole OCFD out in the yard, but that coax will come into the house directly from the side wall.
The main issue with the patch panel however has been location-based. When I moved in, I the carpenter I hired ran the initial coax cables for me. He was nimble, I certainly am not. When we put in the patch panel the kid did the attic work, he was also much nimbler than I. The prime place on the wall for the patch panel turned out to be too close to the edge of the house, making access to the top difficult to access. When I replaced some coax runs with a friend a few years ago, (See https://forums.radioreference.com/t...w-antennas-for-the-attic.437057/#post-3628132) I was unable to get to it, he was barely able to. He is a good friend, but he said that was the last time he would go up there.
One day recently as I was recuperating from surgery, sitting in my Lazy Boy watching some TV show or something in my man cave, I was thinking about this situation. I wanted to replace the coax runs with LMR400 Ultra Flex and run them directly from the radios to the antennas. I also wanted to relocate some of the attic antennas to a different section. I dreaded trying to run them thru the wall where the patch panel was, there was no way I would be able to do that without hired help.
Then there were issues with the location of the antennas within the attic. The easier (and closer) side of the attic to access has two main problems; the first being proximity to metal duct work for the HVAC. The second was due to the proximity to my smoke/CO detectors. While I could use 25- or 35-foot coax runs for antennas there, when I would transmit on a 2M, 440, 220 or GMRS frequency often one of the detectors would start chirping. I realized that the antennas directly above the bedrooms or main hallway were the ones causing the chirping.
Relocating those antennas to the other side of the attic would solve both the chirping and the issues with the HVAC ducts. Over the winter I relocated one of the dual-band antennas to that area and, even though I had to add a double-female coupler and a 10-foot cable in order for it to reach it still worked better than it did above the bedrooms and with the shorter coax run.
That has its own issues though. Getting to that side means laying down on a plywood floor, rolling under a large flexible air intake duct and onto joists. It ain’t easy for anybody, especially a portly fellow like me with bad knees and the coordination of a drunk platypus. I plan on getting some plywood to tack down to the joists on the far side of that duct to make my life a little easier.
Over time I thought of a plan. I would take a ten foot long 3-inch PVC pipe and run it into the attic from my office. By installing it in the corner between my radio and computer desks it would place the access within 3 feet of my attic hatch, right next to the plywood walkway leading to the HVAC air handler/furnace. I would put a sanitary tee at the bottom; this has a bit of a curve to allow the coaxes to run out and give a decent base to stand on the tile floor. I might look at some sort of base for that, but I don’t think that will be necessary. By putting it in that corner it would not be visible except when you are in the office, it is the only corner that works well for access and aesthetics.
I went to the local Lowes and bought the PVC pipe, a sanitary tee and a 3.5-inch hole saw. With the pipe actually measuring out at 10’ 2” and the 6-inches of elevation from the tee, that would have about 8-inches of pipe sticking out above the ceiling. That should be plenty, but if I need more due to the insulation, I can easily add a pipe coupler and a short piece of the same pipe to extend it.
The plan is to get this installed and the coax run before the painters come later this summer. I will then have them patch the hole where the patch panel was and fill in the hole in the wall cap with fire putty. They can paint the pipe the same color as the walls. The wife has already approved this plan and is thinking of some way to decorate the pipe down the road.
As for the coax runs, I will reuse the 3 RG-58’s I have for the existing HF antennas. For the scanner, the 2 dual-banders and the GMRS antennas I will get or make 4 75-foot runs of LMR400 UltraFlex, two with N-connectors at both ends and two with PL-259’s. These will be easy to run thru the pipe, and I can do all that myself. I will leave about 15 feet in the office, plenty enough to run along the floor from the pipe to the desk leg, up the leg and over to the radios. I have to leave a few feet extra as that desk is a standing desk and goes up and down a few feet. With the 10-foot ceiling height that leaves about 50 feet left to get to the antennas from the pipe, enough to get to all 4 corners of the attic.
I think I can get the pipe installed within the next week or so, I have to do the attic work in the early morning because, even in April and May, it gets hot in Phoenix by mid-morning, and the attic is not air conditioned. I will reroute the HF antenna coaxes right away and will get around to obtaining the new LMR400UF runs later.
I am open to suggestions on any better ways to do this project!
