eHam
eHam Forums => Misc => Topic started by: KZ5I on March 17, 2023, 11:58:53 AM
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I know this is off topic but I was wondering if anyone knows of a ham friendly apartment complex n Texas. I currently reside in San Marcos, Tx approx 25 miles south of Austin. Any advice would be appreciated.
‘73 Emmett/KZ5I
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Buy a house
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It's hard to find ANY apartment complex that would be considered, "ham friendly." I have lived in 4 different apartments in the last 26 years, and I operated HF and VHF/UHF transceivers in all 4 locations. Apartment management never found out. In one location, I had to operate from the car because there was no viable place to put up an antenna. I had one apartment where I had an attic that could put up a dipole and 1/4 wave ground plane for 2 meters. I operated on different bands with a tuner, and made good contacts, especially when 10 meters was open, like it is now. I had one apartment on the ground floor where I ran a longwire antenna in the rain gutter, running the length of the complex. I currently live in duplex style location. I have about a 40 foot longwire running the length of the apartment. Not the greatest situation, but sometimes you have to work with what you have. The lady who owns the company that I rent my apartment from was my kindergarten teacher back in 1980, so maybe she would give me a pass, but I haven't asked yet. My family owns a couple of farms about 2 hours south of where I live here in Kentucky. My brother is also a ham, so we go down there to operate Field Day every year, and certain contests. We don't have to worry about space for antennas or electrical noise when I operate from the farms. I hope to buy a house one day soon. Good luck with your apartment search.
73,
Michael KU4UV
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You may have to look for a stealth antenna solution. A pole or wire on a balcony (or out a window) could work, or even an indoor antenna might do. One ham I know was able to put up antennas on the roof, after slipping a few hundred bucks to the landlord! ;)
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The problem isn’t an antenna the problem is the noise my radio generates and it’s next to a wall and my neighbor has filed a complaint. The only other alternative is moving the ham gear away from that wall and to my bedroom. The location in the bedroom is the radio is shielded by a wall in my bedroom and it is closer to the storage room. I’ve been told by apartment management I cannot operate the radio past 7:00 pm currently. As everyone knows that’s when the bands get good. So the way I see it if moving the radio doesn’t solve the problem then I’d have to move.
‘73 Emmett/KZ5I
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Step one... learn about shielding.
Step two... learn about QRP.
And three... leave Texas!
There are ways to make this work but "distance to transmit antenna, filtering, and shielding" are always the answer. And "walls" are NOT shielding.
-Mike.
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My friend rents, and he has a Diamond X50 on a 20 foot mast attached to his balcony railing. And a long wire antenna. No one has noticed yet.
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Use headphones to keep the noise levels down. Use CW or digital modes if the complaint about you talking.
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I'd be getting TF out of that dodgy situation as far as humanly possible.
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The problem isn’t an antenna the problem is the noise my radio generates and it’s next to a wall and my neighbor has filed a complaint.
‘73 Emmett/KZ5I
This isn’t a “ham friendly” problem issue as much as a poor construction apt building problem for which there is only one solution.