86 Countries Through a Window
Philip Cala-Lazar (K9PL)
on
August 2, 2000
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86 Countries Through a Window
by K9PL
I was first licensed in 1976 as WD9ADE and, as ham radio tradition prescribes, I set about assembling my station. At the time, I lived in a third floor apartment, so my options were definitely limited regarding power and antennas. After reading some books and magazine articles concerning QRP operation I decided that was the way to go. I believed that QRP was less likely to disturb my neighbors with RFI and was safer for me as I would be operating quite near the antenna.
I purchased the then popular Ten Tec Argonaut 509 (5 watts output) and researched suitable stealth antennas. I experimented with dipole, slinky and mobile antennas, all indoors and all equally ineffective except for the shortest hauls. I was very disappointed and frustrated with my paucity of, and difficulty in, achieving QSOs. One day I pondered this situation while staring out a broad expanse of windows at an unobstructed western horizon and suddenly realized the answer to my antenna problem was staring me in the face. Forty-feet of aluminum-framed storm windows would make a pretty nifty random wire antenna!
Using short wire jumpers and quarter-inch sheet metal screws, I connected all the windows together and tuned them with an L-section antenna tuner. For a "ground," this was on the third floor, I used a quarter-wave counterpoise for each band I planned to work (10-80 meters). The five counterpoises were connected to the tuner at one end and then run around the room's baseboard -- in this manner I was able to achieve an acceptable SWR on all bands.
Once the aluminum storm window antenna was configured, I had all the QSOs I had the time for. Both stateside and DX contacts became daily occurrences, e.g., I collected nearly one hundred JA QSL cards during that period -- it was truly my "window-to-the-world." Over two years of much patience, a cooperative solar cycle, compulsive QSLing and CW-only operation I was able to work, and mostly confirm, 86 countries and 46 states (including KL7 and KH6). It took me another two years, a move to a house and "real" wire antennas to achieve DXCC, but the lion's share was worked on my storm window antenna.
That's my QRP tale and I guess the moral of the story is: no matter your housing situation, with a little ingenuity you can be a happy ham.
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Clever!
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by KQ6EA on August 2, 2000
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HOW did you connect all the third-floor windows together? Were they close enough together that you could toss the wire between them, or did you run your jumpers INSIDE the apartment? I also use 1/4 wave ground "radials" in my apartment. Nobody believes me, but it cut down the small amount of TVI that I had, and until I got my SGC tuner up on the roof, it seemed to make my Kenwood AT-250 tune faster.
73, Jim
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Magic!
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by K5ZD on August 2, 2000
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This is what makes ham radio great! The Internet or cell phones can never duplicate the magic and wonder of pushing RF into something and having it appear around the world. Thanks for sharing your story!
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RE: Clever!
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by K9PL on August 2, 2000
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Jim,
Thank you for your kind comments.
Yes, the windows were only a few inches apart so linking them was very easy. Between the dining room and bedroom windows, on the same wall, there was a gap of about four feet that I spanned with the same jumper wire that I "fished" across the exterior ledge with the able assistance of a broom!
73,
Philip, K9PL
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Everything Works
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by K3AN on August 2, 2000
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That's the subject of a recent QST article, where the author makes QSOs using a light bulb as an antenna and compares the relative "fun quotient" of light bulbs and other radiators.
The biggest potential problem with an antenna of the type described here is that it may be just inches away from a run of Romex AC wiring in the wall. As a result, QRM from light dimmers and arcing motors might be S9 across every HF band, whereas the buzz from the same sources might be just S1 or S2 on an up-in-the-air dipole.
Then again there may be no problem with AC noise at your QTH. So try anything. House-supported stealth antennas require only a small investment in time and dollars. Just because you live in a house where you can't install an outside antenna doesn't mean you can't be active on HF. If you stick with CW and PSK31 and other weak signal modes, you'll have a surprising amount of success.
One caveat: Run low power. I for one am not interested in determining the long term effects of strong RF fields from antennas that are just a few feet away from me or other family members.
P.S. 1/4 wave radials 2 or 3 floors off the ground are VERY effective radiators!
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