Re: small shortwave antenna



In article <4lkod157rpimgd23vspi0jp0sradpce3rs@xxxxxxx>,
none@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx says...
> I am livign in an apartment, so I cant transmit (no towers and what
> not) so I am looking for what would suit my needs best for HF and
> shortwave recption in general
>
> I have googled a bit and havent found much in the way of easy to build
> or easy to obtain parts to build antennas
>
> any help would be really appreciated
> cheers
>

I'm in a condo, which is also somewhat restrictive in terms of radio
antennas and transmitters. Don't get discouraged, there are ways around
it. Best thing to do is to look into QRP operation (power levels 5w and
lower). I'm using an FT-817 which won't do any more than that, and a
somewhat stealthily-arranged shorty G5RV antenna for 40m thru 10m, and a
2m vertical up where an old busted-up TV antenna used to be when we
moved in. With that arrangement, I can work all the 2m repeaters in the
area, and on HF I've worked all over the country plus several countries
around the Pacific and into South America. Never had a TVI complaint at
all.

One thing I =did= do was put the antenna up first, and leave it up for a
couple of months before I did any transmitting. I read about one guy
who had a neighbor start complaining immediately after he saw the
antenna the guy put up. Since the antenna wasn't even connected to
anything, the neighbor was caught without an explanation or complaint
about the ham. Fortunately, nobody came by and started complaining so I
proceeded with getting on the air, still no interference complaints and
I've been operating for something like seven years now.

Another good story was a ham who was sitting in his living room watching
the tube -- no radios on in the shack at all -- when a neighbor came by,
furious because he was getting TV interference, and was POSITIVE it was
the fault of this ham. The ham said, let's go see, so they went to the
neighbor's house to look. Sure enough, there was a lot of TVI. The
neighbor said, see, you're screwing up my TV! The ham said, how can
that be? I'm standing right here, no radio in sight, so how can I be
messing up your TV...?

Anyway, consider QRP -- you will be surprised at how much you can
accomplish on only five watts!

--

-- //Steve//

Steve Silverwood, KB6OJS
Fountain Valley, CA
Email: kb6ojs@xxxxxxxx
.



Relevant Pages

  • Re: Looking for a vertical amateur band antenna
    ... get a ham license first. ... over 73 years old and would like to just listen to the ham bands, ... I can receive and transmit in CW and was trained in the Army as ... Sounds good...the only thing that wasn't clear in your original post was you specifically asking for an antenna to receive AND *transmit*. ...
    (rec.radio.shortwave)
  • Re: British and French nuclear submarine collide
    ... You're sure as heck not going to transmit ... There are lots of subs, ... The tower is on top of the building. ... I'd expect that they'd use the hull of the sub as the antenna, ...
    (misc.news.internet.discuss)
  • An important word from our sponsors...
    ... You Might be a Ham Operator if..... ... When you look at a full moon and wonder how much antenna gain you ... radio is not CB radio. ... The wife and kids are away and the first thing that goes through ...
    (misc.survivalism)
  • Re: Why Antenna Tuners Arent Necessarily Useful for Shortwave Listening - Question Shortwave Lis
    ... it's only half the antenna if you feed it against ground. ... I didn't get into ham radio until the ... And your buddy RHF ain't too far behind it seems. ... for short wave listening not ham radio. ...
    (rec.radio.shortwave)
  • Re: "Unwashed" hams and "washed" hams
    ... I liken your setup to using a MW receiving loopstick as a transmit ... My MW receiving loop in this room is bigger than that. ... It's still a dummy load on a rotating stick... ... So we have validation that your first antenna was a dud when used ...
    (rec.radio.amateur.antenna)