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1-10 of 39 messages
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1st FLOOR CONDO DWELLERS ANTENNA SOLUTIONS
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by N3XXA on October 6, 2006
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I moved into a very nice condo community a little over a year ago. Not nice for ham radio though. I live in a ground unit. It is a split level so the upstairs bedroom is about 10-15 feet about ground and off limits for radios due to the better half...I am left with the downstairs bedroom which is partially below ground. The window is at ground level and rises to about three feet at the top above ground. I have been using hamsticks but do not seem to get good range on 2 meters. I recently also bought a dual bander for the shack and want to get on 440 as well. I have a 6 meter hamstick but do not pick up too much. I am looking for some advice on good solutions to get on the air and even some DX on 6 and able to hit repeater more than a few miles away on 2m and 440. Also I plan on upgrading soon so I am looking for future HF ideas also. I can put things in the window which is about 3-31/2 feet high by about 5 feet wide. My biggest problem is I am so close to the ground. Another problem I have is I can not put anything outside..one of the board members is in our building and is always on the lookout for people he can write up! I am not a builder...wish I was...so I would like solutions with antennas I could buy from ham stores or Ebay. I appreciate any help I can get! Thanks and 73.
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RE: 1st FLOOR CONDO DWELLERS ANTENNA SOLUTIONS
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by WB2WIK on October 6, 2006
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Having lived in a similar situation once, 18 years ago (temporarily), I had to deal with similar issues.
Stuff that worked:
1. If you have an outdoor parking space available that's close to your condo, and you're permitted to park there when you want including overnight, you can use antennas on the car/truck/RV or whatever, and radios inside the condo. The only connecting link is skinny coax that can be pretty easily hidden. I used to use RG8X "mini-8" going from my garage, behind bushes and shrubs, to the edge of an outdoor parking space maybe 50 feet away. I'd roll up the end and leave it behind a bush when not in use; then, when I parked, I'd pull the coax end out and plug it into my HF mobile antenna on the car. It worked exactly the same as a mobile rig: Not exactly a beam on a tower, but it made thousands of contacts, while I got to sit indoors in air conditioned comfort.
2. I also found the bottom end of an aluminum rain downspout was close to my garage door. I scraped the paint off it and used a screw to make an electrical connection to it. That went to the center conductor of some RG8X coax, and the outer conductor (braid) of the same coax went to an 8' ground rod pounded into the earth behind a bush about six inches away from the bottom end of the downspout. It loaded up very well on a few bands (not all), and I recall it worked remarkably well on 30m -- probably it was a resonant length there. Again, not great, but it sure made contacts.
3. Eventually, since I found I was going to be there close to a year, I ran for president of the HOA and was elected to that post (it's an unpaid volunteer position nobody really wants anyway), then recommended we change the HOA rules to ignore the covenants and see what happens. We got not only a majority vote, but a 100% positive vote from a quorum of the next association meeting, and ruled the CC&Rs would be officially ignored until a problem occurred. No problem ever occurred, so they're still ignoring them to this day, 18 years later.
WB2WIK/6
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RE: 1st FLOOR CONDO DWELLERS ANTENNA SOLUTIONS
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by N3XXA on October 6, 2006
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Thanks for the reply, I do not have a parking spot near my condo. The shortest length of coax I would need to run to even try to make that happen would be 125 feet. I do not have anything rain gutters near my unit which is three units down from the corner of the building. I wish I had that upper end unit because I would have way more possibilities. Also, I can not put anything outside so I am relying on inside the window on the ground floor. I have a porch but would need to run over a 100 feet of coax to reach the downstairs bedroom which I know is a battle I would lose with the XYL. I have to try to keep the peace! As for running for the board I have considered that but I do not think anyone wants to be on this board working with the guy in my building who likes to talk to all the association members as if we were all 5 years old. Thanks for the reply anyway! 73
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RE: 1st FLOOR CONDO DWELLERS ANTENNA SOLUTIONS
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by WB2WIK on October 6, 2006
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Suggestions/comments:
1. The 100' run of coax to the balcony or porch isn't much. If you run it properly, it can be completely concealed so nobody would see it. I do this by drilling holes through floors and ceilings in the corners of closets or elsewhere that nobody looks. It takes a 3' long drill bit, and I have several! In my 4-level town house (condo) I was describing earlier, I installed antennas in the attic, and then eventually on the roof, and ran them into my "shack" in the garage by going through floors and ceilings in closets all the way through -- 4 floors worth!
2. Antennas in a window at ground level aren't going to work worth a darn. Think of something else.
3. As for the HOA, if one guy is a pain, all it takes to unseat him is to be a much bigger pain than he is. I'm the confrontational type, so I love that stuff.
Good luck!
Steve WB2WIK/6
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RE: 1st FLOOR CONDO DWELLERS ANTENNA SOLUTIONS
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by KB9CRY on October 6, 2006
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Antennas in a window at ground level aren't going to work worth a darn. Think of something else.
I agree with Steve, don't even bother wasting your time at the window, especially for HF.
need to run over a 100 feet of coax to reach the downstairs bedroom which I know is a battle I would lose with the XYL.
Everyone has their breaking (compromise) point. This may cost you a trip to Hawaii but how bad do you WANT it? As Steve suggested, you may need to be very creative.
If all else fails, then I'd either move right away or concentrate on a nice HF mobile setup.
Phil
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RE: 1st FLOOR CONDO DWELLERS ANTENNA SOLUTIONS
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by N3XXA on October 6, 2006
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Hi Phil, thanks for the reply, as for moving that probably will not happen for about 3 more years so I am sentenced to living in a really nice condo that is really bad for ham radio. I have reservations about running the coax. My home is wall to wall except for the hallway downstairs to the bedroom which is tile and the coax would show. Also, another problem, where to mount the antenna out on the porch..there is someone above me so their balcony is above me...also the electric meters for my unit the one upstairs and the two next to me upstairs and down are in my patio area on the wall...I do not want to mount anything too close to those meters I would think just from common sense...my patio is across from a long row of very tall trees about 50 feet away and across the walkway. We have lots of lightning activity especially in the summer and with the meters I worry about the grounding issue. Thanks for the ideas though.
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RE: 1st FLOOR CONDO DWELLERS ANTENNA SOLUTIONS
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by WB2WIK on October 6, 2006
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>RE: 1st FLOOR CONDO DWELLERS ANTENNA SOLUTIONS Reply
by N3XXA on October 6, 2006 Mail this to a friend!
Hi Phil, thanks for the reply, as for moving that probably will not happen for about 3 more years so I am sentenced to living in a really nice condo that is really bad for ham radio. I have reservations about running the coax. My home is wall to wall except for the hallway downstairs to the bedroom which is tile and the coax would show.<
::I'll bet you a steak & lobster dinner that if I were in your condo, within 10 minutes I'd have a way to run the coax so nobody would ever see it. It would involve drilling holes in places nobody looks (closet corners, corners of heater/AC closets, laundry rooms or whatever there is), running cabling down interior corners, possibly even then coating the cabling with paint the same color as the walls to make it blend in. But I guarantee I could do it.
>Also, another problem, where to mount the antenna out on the porch..there is someone above me so their balcony is above me...also the electric meters for my unit the one upstairs and the two next to me upstairs and down are in my patio area on the wall...I do not want to mount anything too close to those meters I would think just from common sense<
::Why not? Everybody has electric meters. They are benign and don't have any impact on antennas or where they should be installed.
>...my patio is across from a long row of very tall trees about 50 feet away and across the walkway. We have lots of lightning activity especially in the summer and with the meters I worry about the grounding issue. Thanks for the ideas though.<
::At this point, you have convinced yourself it's hopeless, so there's no use pursuing this further. You'll have *exactly* the same issue if you had a detached private home on six acres.
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RE: 1st FLOOR CONDO DWELLERS ANTENNA SOLUTIONS
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by N3XXA on October 6, 2006
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I do not think it is hopeless....that is why I am posting on here...to see if there are things which I have not thought of. I am just trying to figure out the best way to do it that will keep me in the good graces of the better half! I am thinking about running the coax. Problem is...I can not drill through the floors...my place has concrete floors with carpeting above...nowhere to drill to hide it...I have carpeting so I can hide most of it except for the downstairs hallway...do you know somewhere where I can get white colored coax instead of black...then it would probably work. Thanks for the feedback but I am not giving up hope of doing some DX from here.
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RE: 1st FLOOR CONDO DWELLERS ANTENNA SOLUTIONS
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by WB2WIK on October 6, 2006
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1. White colored coax is very available. "Marine" type RG8X, available at marine shops, always has it. They like white, because it reflects the sun and doesn't get as hot as black. I've also found white RG8X via mail-order from several distributors, including The RF Connection http://www.therfc.com
2. Concrete floors above ground level? Are you serious? Doesn't seem possible, let alone practical. How do they pour it? A 2" thick concrete floor that's even 600 square feet would weigh 4.8 tons. This seems nuts. I can see concrete floors at ground level (slab) but above that, I've never heard of such a thing.
3. XYL issues are just one of those things. I don't have any issues, although I do have an XYL. I always tell her everything we own is 50/50, and I'm drilling, punching and putting up antennas on my half.
WB2WIK/6
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RE: 1st FLOOR CONDO DWELLERS ANTENNA SOLUTIONS
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by N3XXA on October 6, 2006
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The condo is a split level...there is the ground floor, living room and dining room and then concrete floors downstairs slightly below ground level with the bottom of the window downstairs being above ground everything lower than that below ground. Upstairs is concerete too with slabs like you mentioned. Thanks for the help! I have some things to consider but I wish there was something I could use for the window that might work even just locally for 2 meter and 440. Thanks!
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