Howard, yes, I must say, I have been very surprised how well the
antenna works when conditions are good. I have even worked
people on 60 meters where the antenna has a terrible match by
just turning my power down to around 30 watts. But I worked a
guy on the RV net on 40 meters just yesterday who was very weak
and I truly thought he wouldn't hear me. He came back after my
first call. I guess his noise level was much less than mine.
here. Well, am now in a conversation with a couple of local guys
on 40 meters. Take care, Jim WA6EKS
----- Original Message -----
From: "Howard, W A 9 Y B W" <[log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Date sent: Tue, 17 Jul 2012 11:30:08 -0500
Subject: Re: apartment dwelling antennas
Jim,
When the bands are "normal" does your antenna work pretty well?
I bet the antenna wire isn't noticed unless someone points it
out.
I bet more apartment dwellers could do something similar, but the
mention of
an antenna congers up big unsightly monstrosities, so we don't
even get a
chance to show that the wire from the building to a tree or from
building to
building wouldn't be noticed.
Many antennas are not as ugly as power lines, huge signs or even
light poles
in the parking lot.
73
Howard #3
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Gammon" <[log in to unmask]
To: <[log in to unmask]
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 11:14 AM
Subject: Re: apartment dwelling antennas
Hi Howard, the Pvc pipes are mounted on existing vent pipes on
the roof of each building. The antenna has a kind of print l
shape to it because I ran out of room to go straight so it
required 3 pieces of PVC as well as the center feedpoint on the
vertical pole which comes up from ground level between the two
buildings. Might as well have no antenna right now because I
can't even hear any of the WWV signals, just a whole lot of
noise! Jim
----- Original Message -----
From: "Howard, W A 9 Y B W" <[log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Date sent: Tue, 17 Jul 2012 10:38:01 -0500
Subject: Re: apartment dwelling antennas
Hi Jim,
Just curious, how did you mount the 5 foot lengths of PVC to the
building
and where did you mount them?
73
Howard #3
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Gammon" <[log in to unmask]
To: <[log in to unmask]
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 10:27 AM
Subject: Re: apartment dwelling antennas
The Alpha 1 and Mp-1 are supposed to work on 80 to 6 meters.
The
philosophy or approach for each is different. The interesting
thing about the Alpha is that the matchbox is supposed to do all
the work other then your tuner, so you don't have to go out and
physically change the antenna length when you change bands. But
I think you lose some efficiency as a result of that. So
there's
no getting around the fact that small antennas are just going to
be compromises no matter how you cut it. I am really lucky
here.
Also living in an apartment, I asked the landlord if I could put
up a Shortwave antenna and he said sure, long as it doesn't mess
up the visual quality of the building. I have a Windom that
uses
a couple of 5 foot PVC pipes to support the wire about 4 to 5
feet above the roof. The feed point is on a pole with a
vertical
for 2 and 70 centimeters that is attached to a clothes line pole
down between two apartment buildings if that makes any sense.
Jim
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