If you get something like the maldall 510, that's a tri bander, it's what I 
have in my go kit antenna. It has a PL259 connector on the end of it, it's a 
mobile antenna, the beauty of it is, it needs no ground plain so you can 
mount it to literally anything. I often used to set it up on vacations on a 
luggage rack mount on the back of a lawn chair or something like that, 
railing if there was one small enough with a bupper pad so the mount didn't 
ground it or mark up what it was mounted to. That would fit in an attic and 
you could actually use almost any kind of mount that might work out for you 
for that one. You could even, take a luggage or mirror mount and screw that 
to 1 of the beams up there if you don't have a solid floor, you'd be in 
great shape if you did that. In my attic for thunderstorms and stuff with 
skywarn, I just got an MFJ 2 meter, 5/8 wave antenna that didn't fit all 
that well but I bent the radials outward and forced it to stay with the top 
of the antenna against the ceiling and the radials holding it as far as the 
floor is concerned and it works very well. It's been up there I think for 3 
or 4 years now.  It's 2 meters only though, I made another of those myself 
for packet which works even better, same identical thing. There are a lot of 
ideas like that, but I think I'd look more in to a decent mobile antenna 
like the Maldall I mentioned before, or the diamond NR770 or similar that 
doesn't even need a ground plain, your mounting possibilities are endless.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lou Kline" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2007 2:48 PM
Subject: Dual Band Antenna for the Attic?


> Hi.
>
> I'm wondering if anyone is aware of a dual band antenna that would be
> suitable for use with a mobile radio that is compact enough to be able to
> put in an attac?  Right now, I have an HT working into a AEA Hot Rod
> sitting on an RF Products magnetic mount in the middle of an old pizza pan
> up there.  It will handle up to 25 watts, but most modern radios put out 
> 50
> watts or more, which the present antenna clearly won't with stand.  I was
> thinking that if there was some compact design that doesn't require a mag
> mount or a pie plate, maybe that would be better--maybe something with a
> decent ground plane that can sit on a couple of boards across the
> joists.  Or maybe I'll have to get inventive enough to construct something
> up there to permanently mount an antenna to.
>
> The main reason for the attic antenna is that I want something that I can
> keep on during severe weather.  Being only three miles from Lake Ontario, 
> a
> lot of severe weather blows in this time of year, and I've already taken
> one direct lightning strike here, but still want to be able to participate
> in weather nets.  An attic antenna seems like a good precaution for that
> type of situation.
>
> Also, on the same subject, does anyone know of a good sensitive and
> selective weather radio?  Some of the older Radio Shack ones that were 
> made
> about 25 years ago were quite good, but they've cheapened up on their more
> recent offerings which aren't that sensitive and are broad enough to drive
> a Mac truck through.  Come to think of it, I'd like to try that with my
> present one!
>
> 73, de Lou K2LKK
>
>
>
> Louis Kim Kline
> A.R.S. K2LKK
> Home e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
> Work e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
> Work Telephone:  (585) 697-5753