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Author Topic: College Dorm  (Read 8345 times)

KB1EXM

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College Dorm
« on: March 30, 2001, 10:27:35 PM »

Are there any other college students out there living in a dorm situation.  I do not have a vehicle, balcony, or even a small yard.  I am forbidden from removing my screen and a long wire hanging out would be pretty obvious.  Share with me your stories and any solutions.

Thanks
Matthew
KB1EXM
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N5ZVP

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College Dorm
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2001, 12:36:20 AM »

I'm in nearly the same boat here even though I live in a house. My housemate/landlord/cousin is paranoid about antennas. Except for the chance of installing a discone in the attic, I'm stuck with what can go in my room, 10' X 12' for time being. I also have a ceiling fan.

Some of the suggestions I got from the local hams are:

1) Magmount on a metal garbage can lid (ground plane)
2) Random wire(just a long wire)
3) Short wire dipoles
4) VHF loops with some sort of matching network
5) Turn the opposite walls into a quad
6) Horizontal or vertical yagi on a tripod
7) Move :)

I also ask about how much power (transmit) I could run consider safety as a prime factor. I would think that 25-50 watts would be on the high side for an indoor antenna for me, if I was a few feet away. I think I should be able to do most of what I what with ten watts or less.

Chris N5ZVP




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KA4WJA

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College Dorm
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2001, 09:10:32 PM »

Matthew,
First, get in touch with your university's ham radio club...
If there isn't one there, check out the WPIWA (Worcester Polytechnic Institue Wireless Association)
in Worcester, MA (duh!!)(that's where I went to school)
Their call is W1YK... They have a wesite..  
www.wpi.edu/~wpiwa/
They're a bit "odd" (engineering students mostly) hi hi

Now for some quick ideas... Don't just take that "don't mess with screens" stuff... remove the screen carefully and you'll be able to slip a wire out
(and replace the screen)... use a VERY small wire.
Try a small (24ga) spaeker wire or a small (28ga) magnet wire... run it up (or down, depending on what floor you're on...) Keep it small and no one will ever
see it... (if you're paranoid about, it pull it inside
when not using it... cutting/drilling a SMALL hole in the frame helps)  Use a antenna tuner and you'll have a broadband antenna....

You could also load up a downspout, etc...

I wire antenna can als work well fro 2m!!!
Hang a 1/4 wavelength (~19") of wire out the window and
connect it to the coax center / connect the coax shield
to the metal frame of the window (or screen)...
Try to get the wire away from the wall a bit, and it will work fine...

Fishing line works good for support/stand-off....

In door antennas work BUT OUTDOOR ANTENNA ARE BETTER!!!

Good Luck!!!
73, John
KA4WJA
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N4YDU

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College Dorm
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2001, 10:25:08 AM »

I've been out of college for three years and had the same problem as you are having. I simply ignored the rules and put a wire out my window from the second floor and tuned it with a tuner. I was fortunate that my dorm window faced the woods. I stayed in that room for two years. I left the antenna up between summers and it was never touched. No one even asked me a question about it (expcept for friends). What's the worst thing they can do to you? Whatever the penalty is I'm sure it isn't too harsh. More than likely they'll just ask you to take it down. Do so and then put it up again.

I used a 130 foot wire. I started with a 15 foot length and then got brave one night in the arrl ss cw contest and went with the 130 footer.

I also put a two-meter antenna up for packet. I just let that one hang from the window.
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N2MDB

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College Dorm
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2001, 06:57:01 PM »

I live in a university owned dorm apartment on the 2nd floor of a 2 floor building. I built a "T" shaped assembly out of 3/4" PVC pipe and used 2 metal pipe hangers and hung it off the gutters. I have several antennas off it, including a 2M groundplane, 2M j-pole, cell antenna (for trunking scanner). I also have a long wire for SWL running to some trees about 50 feet away. I used "magnet" wire (I believe Radio Shack sells it for transformers) and it is barely visible from the ground. I even ran another piece down to a short ground rod at the base of the building and used that as an RF ground for the SWL antenna (RF noise is a big problem in a dorm). All this comes in to a window that I removed the screen from (just pops out) and closed the window tightly against all the coax.

My university has a no antennas/no screen removal policy too. However their antenna policy is so broad it would cover clock radios/walkmans/cordless phones/etc...that it could never be enforced without challenge. You didn't say if you went to a public or private college. I go to a public (state) university, so I figure I could try to claim PRB-1 protection since it's an agency of the state (and therefore the housing regulations are policies enacted by a state agency). Even if that would never past muster in court, it might be enough to "scare" them off.

I face some woods about 50 feet away, but people do walk along the area behind my building and it is visible from the parking lot, but I tried my best to keep the whole PVC assembly close to the building. I'm sure at least some people must have noticed a piece of white PVC sticking up above the gutter line with a ground plane on it by now :)

Just keep in mind too, most housing officals have bigger things to worry about (unruley residents, drugs, alcohol, etc) that something that isn't bothering anyone else is not going to be a big concern...espically if you an otherwise outstanding resident who is friendly with their housing staff and always chit-chats when they walk by :)

And don't forget to do an RF safety evaluation if needed..that would definitly help your case if you ever had a problem.

Hope that helps & goodluck,
Matt N2MDB
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AA1UY

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College Dorm
« Reply #5 on: May 15, 2001, 01:47:47 PM »

I'm in a similar situation and have been using a B & W AP-10A. It's really supposed to be stuck out of a window, but I use it to good effect, indoors, propped-up against a second floor window.

It's a 5 foot telescopic whip (so it's portable) with a loading coil and counterpoise attached. It'll work on all bands (40 thru 2 meters) simply by moving the coil-tap fly-lead and rolling-up or unrolling the counterpoise to the correct length.

It doesn't sound like much, but it works a lot better than you'd think and no-one would be any the wiser. The counterpoise provides your RF Ground. If you run low power (ie < 5 watts) CW (as I do), TVI/RFI shouldn't be an issue, nor should radiation exposure (according to current guidelines).

Note that the AP-10A is not the (older) AP-10 which had a set of interchangeable coils (a lot less user friendly). See reviews on this site.
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