The MFJ loop covered and ready to go into service.

 In part 2 of antenna challenges, I want to dive into living in a condo and getting on the air. Many amateur operators at some time have found themselves moving into an apartment to save for a home or downsizing into a condo when the house has grown too big. 

This lifestyle does not mean the radio hobby is tossed. Most of us find our radio hobby adds pleasure to one's day. For me when I was in a condo it meant just another hurdle to overcome toward getting on the air. In my readings, I have seen hams who have erected wire, mobile whips and so on. I have never tried any of these and if you have please do share what you have tried. The condos that I have lived in were heavy on condo cop protection and the list was long as to what could and could not be on a balcony. One of the items on the list was antennas and as for me, I look at that as where there is a will there is a way!

Yearly checkup

 In all the condos I have lived in I have always had a balcony to take advantage of for an antenna. After investigating many antennas the best solution (a pricey solution) was a mag loop antenna for the balcony. It offered a small size, if needed it could be taken in and out from the balcony and as well its multi-band antenna. In the past, I have had mag loops such as an AEA isoloop, Chameleon P-loop and Alex loop. I planned to leave the loop on the balcony and not have to run in and out to tune the loop. I ended up purchasing the MFJ 1786 mag loop and this loop gave me the desired remote band tuning I wanted. I then purchased a tripod to mound the loop and next was how to conceal the loop. I ended up getting a patio furniture cover which looked great and to the condo cops, it was just another piece of patio furniture on the balcony. I was thrilled the cover did not affect the SWR at all as I was prepared to remove the cover during operation and then cover it once done. The mag loop had to be moved around the balcony for the best overall SWR. This took some time and once done I marked the balcony floor with a permanent marker. Also in the front of the loop is a round copper wire and by changing its shape also can help with improving the SWR.

Changing the shape improves SWR

This way when it was stored in the corner during non-use I was able to put it in the right spot for best operation. The loop was very fussy and putting the loop in the exact spot was important for the best possible SWR. The loop was tried both in the vertical and horizontal position. I was not able to get a decent SWR when the loop was mounted vertical. I ended up using it in the horizontal position. This was also great for the cover as it looked like a patio table I was covering. I used the Comet CTC-50M (flat coax cable) to feed out the sliding glass door so the coax would be permanent as well. This setup allowed me to place the antenna in position and start operating. Again in this configuration, I was strictly CW and I also added digital communications as well. I admit it is not an ideal situation but it got me on the air and making contact.
In my third and final antenna challenge post I want to share some other antennas I have tried some failed, some worked and others were crazy and worked. After using the loop for a short while I became very fast at tuning the loop. I also found in the summer if the humidity was high it would affect the SWR. Once a year I took the loop in for an inspection and remove any bugs that made the loop home.

The Ham Nation folks invited me on to talk about the Colorado 14er Event last night. Thanks for the invite! This turned out to be a concise look at the 14er event with lots of great photos of past operations.

Here’s the video (my segment was 20 minutes long):

We have lots of information on the event at ham14er.org.

73 Bob K0NR

The post Colorado 14er Event on Ham Nation appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

In this episode, we join  Martin Butler M1MRB, Dan Romanchik KB6NU, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT,  Edmund Spicer M0MNG and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and in the episode's feature is our second half of our Ham Radio 2023 Round-Up.

We would like to thank Keith Schlottman (KR7RK), Frank Westphal - (K6FW), Dino Papas (KLØS), Ed Jones (K8MEJ), Philip Heckingbottom VK6ADF and our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

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AmateurLogic.TV Episode 183 is now available for download.

W5AXC and W5SLA Field Day Events.
JPC-12 40-6 Meter Vertical Antenna.
Friedrichshafen 2023

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Alpha Delta DX-EE

 Many Amateur radio ops now find themselves in a neighbourhood, downsizing to a condo or moving to an assisted living complex that is ham radio antenna unfriendly. I have lived in many antenna challenged, HOA and condo rules that outlaw antennas. But I have always managed to get on the air using HF and enjoy the hobby. Over the next few posts, I am going to share how I accepted the antenna challenge and kept the HOA hounds or condo cops from having their heads spin backwards. Today let's look at a situation that involves home HOA hounds or townhouse condo cops. 

In the neighbourhoods I have moved to I always get a copy of the rules. (HOAs and condos have more pleasant words than rules) But let me start by saying I am not against having common understandings (rules) as it can control some funny things that can pop up in uncontrolled neighbourhoods or condos. In most of the rules I have read regarding antennas, it boils down to you can't have them due to safety, how they look and the size. The way I see it is if it's safe, no one see's it and it's small then we are good to go with an antenna! 

The first big hurdle is out of sight, as with amateur radio an HF antenna can be a tough one. For 16 years I lived in a townhouse which was not antenna friendly. I found we had a very large attic and then the next challenge was what to put up there for HF operations. What I tried was 2 mobile whips configured into a dipole. This had a very narrow bandwidth and only a single band as I could not set up more than one due to space and interaction. A band change meant getting up in the attic and doing the whip change. That idea was deleted due to attic heat in the summer and just getting up and down from the attic. 

Electric fence stand-offs

My goal was a multiband antenna that was small and could be left in the attic and forgot about. I committed to a dipole antenna from Alpha Delta the DX-EE model. This was a 10-40m antenna that was 40 feet long. Now my attic is nowhere close to being 40 feet long but I ended up installing it in a "Z" configuration. To secure the antenna in the "Z" configuration I used electric fence standoffs. Also, I added a 1:1 choke balun at the antenna feed point. This antenna served me without issue for years and it was out of the elements from the weather, out of sight and got me on the air. As a sidebar, I only transmitted at QRP levels as I did not want to have any issues with those on either side of us in the townhouse.

DX-EE

Some of the challenges were:
The antenna had a narrow bandwidth on 40m but the Elecraft K3 tuner looked after that. As well using the Elecraft K3 tuner I was able to also use the WARC bands as well.
I picked up very bad band noise from a Plasma TV but that was fixed with an MFJ noise-cancelling unit.
Getting the coax from the attic to the radio room. The room was on the second floor and I ended up putting the coax in the wall and out in the radio room.
Securing the antenna for a "Z" configuration. As mentioned I used electric fence stand-offs. 

Getting the best bang for each watt of power meant CW and not SSB. That began my journey of re-learning CW. Also fast forward to now there is also the digital modes you can use. 

 The next post (part 2) will be dealing with my condo apartment antenna challenges.