If you are fortunate enough to have a private balcony that is on at least 
the second floor, you have several options. Most of them can easily be 
brought out and taken back inside as needed if that helps keep the condo 
police busybodies happy.

MFJ makes a duel band ground plane. It's a quarter wave for 2 meters, and 
loads to a 5/8 wave on 440. You need about 3 feet of vertical space, and 
nearly that much horizontal space to mount it so that the radials don't 
touch anything.

A J pole is also good. There are some designs for duel band models, some 
made from wire, others from tubing. One duel band design was in a recent 
QST. Actually, it showed how to make it as a "roll-up" travel antenna, as 
well as how to stuff it into a stick of PVC pipe. I think it was either 
March or April QST from this year.

A J Pole uses no radials, and is fed at the bottom. Thus, it can simply hang 
from a small hook in a balcony ceiling, or even inside, preferably near a 
window.

Comet, Diamond, and perhaps others also make small duel band verticals which 
are as short as somewhere around 5 feet. These short ones are essentially 
mobile antennas with ground radials beneath them. Some may also require a 
short metal mast for mounting. In such cases, as well as for the Cushcraft 
Ringo series of antennas, the metal pole becomes part of the antenna tuning 
system, and the antenna doesn't work well without it.

If you're really bold, and you don't have a lot of people or pet traffic on 
your balcony, MFJ makes a "portable" duel band beam. I think the boom length 
is 4 feet.. It's 3 elements on 2 meters, and 5 or 6 on 440.

I used the 2 meter only version of this antenna on a balcony for several 
years. The main thing it did was to allow me to get as much of my signal 
away from the building as was possible with the antenna being 2 feet outside 
my door. I could rotate the antenna through a range of 180 degrees, thus 
enhancing my coverage in 3 directions.

I've also known people who installed a glass mount mobile antenna on a 
window. These antennas work well on 440, and okay, but not necessarily 
fabulous on 2 meters.

Hope this helps.




Mike Duke, K5XU
American Council of Blind Radio Amateurs