Hi everyone - first post in this forum. I moved to an apartment almost a year ago, and came up with a way of working HF that is not optimal but seems to work for now.
I constructed a 35 foot long dipole, ran it along the outside of the apartment along the balcony floor, up the walls (hidden in the cracks) and along the ceiling. The stucco walls use a plastic mesh, so the antenna actually gets out ok. I've been able to work FT8, FT4, JS8 and WSPR on 20, 30 and 40 meters. Also a couple incomplete CW contacts, so I need to keep trying there. I haven't tried other digital modes and have written off SSB. The antenna is fed with ladder line, into an MFJ window panel that I painted and hid with a chair.
If you look closely, you can see some wire at the top left of the door, although I eventually ran that up along the wall. I was worried someone would see the ladder line and say something, but nothing happened. The shack is in the living room, directly on the other side of the wall. I usually run around 50 watts, but have pushed it up to 100 with no RFI, aside from my laptop. That was cured by extra ferrite on the USB cable and moving it a few feet away.


So a few months later, I decided to add a W6LVP receive loop. Weeks went by and no one said anything, so then I added a homebrew VHF/UHF ground plane. Still no complaints. Perhaps I got lucky.
