Speak Out: Over-Compromised Antennas?
A contributor writes, "When I was living in apartment I used a variety of stealth HF antennas. I started with copper tape stuck to the wall and ceiling of my balcony fed against the balcony rail, and over several years I used many random antenna variations involving magnet wire, a remote tuner, and a couple of trees. My antenna was still something we'd all tag "a compromise antenna." It was nearly invisible, not particularly high, had a strange radiation pattern, and it was bent to fit the space available. But I had a much bigger TX signal and much less noise interfering with RX. Have you ever replaced a "compromise antenna" with another one that stayed within your constraints and seen a huge difference in your ability to make contacts?"
18 opinions on this subject.
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N4ZAW on 2008-09-21
The most enjoyment I have derived from this hobby is making crash barriers radiate NVIS style. I love field day. I have enjoyed the rush of hooking coax/balun up to the seperated roof flashing and making contacts all over with it. We can call it "compromise". But I prefer the word "experiment".. It throws the less broad-minded for a loop (hopefully, of their own design).
N4ZAW on 2008-09-21
The most enjoyment I have derived from this hobby is making crash barriers radiate MVIS style. I love field day. I have enjoyed the rush of hooking coax/balun up to the seperated roof flashing and making contacts all over with it. We can call it "compromise". But I prefer the word "experiment".. It throws the less broad-minded for a loop (hopefully, of their own design).
K4KZZ on 2008-08-23
K4KZZ on 2008-08-23 I lost an hoa suit because the developer went bankrupt and I didn"t get his approval in writing. Had to remove 3 twrs. Instd HF-2v with 50 radials in wooded area behind house and an N4GG mod bobtail ant for 10-15-20 between 2 trees at 35'. Has wkd vy well for the situation as the bobtail has abt the same gain as a small tribander. Wkd most of the dx-peditions over the last 5 yrs. Only thing I don't understand is ARRL's reluctance to put more effort into fighting CCR's. I'm sure this is keeping most hams off the air from home. Almost impossible to find subd w/o CCRS.
KC8HQX on 2008-08-01
This question arises in one form or another multiple times a week. It's clear a multi-element beam on a rotator 100 feet up on a tower is an order of magnitude better than a wunder-doitall-compromise at 30 feet, but of course we don't all have the space or financial wherewithal to put up a tower.
I strung up a wire vertical, well aware of it's limitations and advantages. Though verticals are much maligned by folks who seem quick to exclaim, "but compared to a beam, it's awful", it fits my space requirements, didn't break my pocketbook and has turned out to be a decent antenna. Just last night I QSOed a gentleman in California running a 100 watts into a loop 30 ft. up with only my 100 watts into the home-brew vertical; clearly his station was doing no more heavy lifting than mine. Just prior to that, a gentleman in Oklahoma gave me an S9+15; he was also using a vertical, but feeding it 600 watts. During this sunspot minimum, I've still managed to bag Croatia and Eastern Ukraine to name a few. If I never put up another antenna (of course I will), I think I'd do ok with it. Will I miss signals the fellow down the street with a kilobuck system can pull out? Of course! My compromise antenna sure is better than the alternative though: nothing!
What's the moral of the story? Use what you can. Antenna performance values are only part of the story. Propagation is such an wild variable that sometimes the pea-shooter station running 10 watts into a paper clip can bust a pileup full of "big guns".
Ain't amateur radio great?!
Doug
N6CIC on 2008-06-22
When I lived in a two-story condo with HOA restrictions, I used a 20-meter slanted dipole that I would hang out of my second story window at night and bring back in during the day (good exercise). It worked well but I was restricted to one band. I had made plans for a flagpole antenna, when we decided to move. A big problem in California is that essentially every new housing development has antenna restrictions. So its difficult-you find a house or condo your spouse likes near good schools, etc., but it comes with antnenna restrictions. Threads like this are good morale boosters for antenna restricted hams!
K7LA on 2008-06-21
We beat the HOA by operating from the mobile parked in the driveway. And don't think it didn't gall them.
In 1996 we moved away from the HOA clowns and need not compromise antennas any further.
KG8JF on 2008-06-20
Why do ham radio operators move into communities with such strict cc&rs? If one moves into these places why do we ever hear form them, moaning about how unfair things are?
VU2LID on 2008-06-19
Indoor loops work well from some buildings. An indoor two turn loop used to work well from my previous QTH (check http://shipwreck.hopto.org/hamprojects/LoopAntenna.html ). I found that this worked better than a hamstick on the window railing.
73 de salim vu2lid / n8li
K9MHZ on 2008-06-17
Yes, the "antenna" that I'm currently using that's in my attic, due to some brutal HOA rules. It's a trapped parallel dipole that's fed by a big tuner in the shack.....I think the whole setup is more like a black hole for transmit power, with impedances that are from the Twilight Zone.
Yikes.
Brad
K9MHZ
K3UD on 2008-06-16
I lived in an apartment for several years in the 70s. I tried all kind of "stealth" antennas and was able to make some contacts.
One evening I took notice that there was a continuous aluminum gutter running just above my window. The gutters were at least 175 - 200 feet long and ran the length of the apartment block. There were also 6 aluminum downspouts gracing the back side of the apartments.
I thought that it might work as an antenna. To this end I leaned out the window and screwed an eyelet screw into the gutter. I then ran a wire from my tuner terminating with an alligator clip. I clipped the wire to the eyelet.
I also had a random wire attached to a rubber ball that served as some kind of counterpoise. It worked well enough on 75 - 40 - 20 - and 10 meters.
Never could get it to work on 15. I made a lot of contacts with it including DX. A lot of fun and kept me on the air.
73
George
K3UD
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