40 meters in the Attic

Now here is a working antenna! This is working great for me. I can work 40 meters and above quite well. I've even worked a couple stations on 160 meters! I sure surprised Lex (N9CQH), a good friend of mine when I gave him a call one evening. I know he's just under a 100 miles from me and I had to keep my power under 20 watts because I couldn't get the SWR low enough to use more. I have good luck on 80 meters too. I'm just a long way from being the biggest fish in the pond is all. It's by far the best antenna I've used from here in the apartment.

Dual Band Dipole

This is another Antenna I tried. I made this one for 40 and 75/80 meters, but you can make it for your favorite bands. I used a 4" PVC pipe coupler cut in half, so I could make another one later. I used 4 male quick couplers from Hustler (from my collection of mobil antenna parts), and threaded them into the undersize hole around the coupler. The studs where paired up with lite bare wire, and 300 ohm twin soldered to each. I used two Hamsticks, or equivalent for 40 meters and the other two for 75/80 meters. The idea was to be able to load up the antenna on other bands as well. I was able to load this design on 10 and 20 meters. I didn't try it anywhere else. However I would like to note that the 200' of Random Wire (not a Long Wire) that I have out across three trees by the apartment still out performs this antenna on 75/80 meters. One other thought in favor of this antenna is that I could run 100 watts on 10 and 20 meters without any RF in the apartment like the Random Wire does with 50 watts.

Slinky Vertical

Here is a good use for a Slinky. Well as far as a Ham is concerned. I stretched one out over three sections of 3/4 PVC pipe. I made it so it would almost touch the ceiling. The three sections where just long enough to fit in my suite case. I took it with me to Tempe AZ. I worked a hand full of stations on 40 meters with it right where it sits in the living room. I used wooden dowel rods at each end to stretch the Slinky. I drilled small hole near the ends of the dowels, and threaded the slinky through then. I soldered an aligator clip to each lead of the coax, and cliped the center lead to the base of the slinky. The sheild went to ground radials that were spread out on the floor. Of course you'll need an Antenna Tuner. It worked for me. Far from the best I have ever used, but it does work.

My Bug Catcher Vertical

I've used a large metal mixing bowl that I bought at a local Goodwill Store, and an antenna feed that mounts to the bowl through a hole I drilled in it's center. The loading coil is the large #680 Bug Catcher, and a telescoping whip stretched to the ceiling. I attached a couple small bolts to either side of the bowl to add wire ground radials. After my first trial with this antenna I have thought of stretching out aluminim foil to set the bowl on for a better ground plane. (That's the plan)

This setup has worked with limited success. I worked a few of my regular contacts on 40 meters with my Ten Tec Scout. Larry (KN8I) is 511 miles from me, of course the bands have been very up and down.

73's from N9XFX

Greetings from N9XFX Dennis. The photo on the Home page is from my previous Station where I had a nice Antenna Farm of FULL Size wire antennas for my favorite Bands. I'm now an Apartment dweller like a lot of my fellow Ham's, so I've been trying many different things to get on the air with some sort of efficiency. I enjoy the Rag chews, and working a few favorite Nets. The bottom line is the Antenna's for my, and many other Hams in our situation are only Compromise Antenna's. They will NEVER produce the results of there Full Size counterparts. I hope to share with others what I've learned by "Much" trial and error, as well as learn from you. Thanks for stopping by!

73's de N9XFX Dennis

Welcome to the site!

Thank you for visiting this site. It is intended to be a resource for anyone who would like to have great functioning antennas but is lacking the space for more traditional set-ups. New ideas are always welcomed, so please feel free to comment on anything you see here. Future postings will include ideas and plans for various antennas, and they should be available soon, so check back often for new updates!