Message number 10002 in "SURV NET COMMS"
Date: 09-18-93  10:52
From: John Mudge
To:   All
Subj: Pt 1/2: Condo Communicator #6


MSGID: 9:1992/111 2c9b3ced

PID: GED 2.41
=============================================================================
* Forwarded by John Mudge (9:1992/111)
* Area : RF_HAM (Crossnet: RF_HAM)
* From : Art Winterbauer, 1:2200/2112.1 (Friday August 13 1993 13:31)
* To   : All
* Subj : Pt 1/2: Condo Communicator #6
=============================================================================
From: awinterb@du.edu (Art Winterbauer)
Organization: University of Denver

                       IMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM;
                       :[210                  012[:
                       :[210Condo Communicator012[:
                       :[210                  012[:
                       HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM<
Welcome to the sixth exciting, thrill-packed issue of Condo Communicator, a
newsletter devoted to those amateurs who, for various reasons, must
configure their stations to operate from restrictive areas such as condos,
apartments, townhouses, neighborhoods with outdoor antenna restrictions,
ships/boats, mobile homes, or wherever they fry their burgers and call QTH.


                             TABLE OF CONTENTS

   Soapbox........................... Block    1

   Station Descriptions.............. Block    2
       K6XO, KK6NR, KC6ZTT

   Congratulations to AE0Q........... Block    3

   Technical Correspondence.......... Block    4

   Bibliography...................... Block    5

BLOCK 1
Based on my personal experience and from your reports, it seems that living
in a condo or in a "restricted" neighborhood isn't much of an impediment to
ham radio activities.  In fact, it can be used to your advantage,
especially if you live in a high rise where you can put up an antenna
without having to install a tower!

Let's take a moment and compare shacks...those in a condo and those on a
city lot.  How do they compare?

HF             Condo/Restricted        City Lot
--------       ----------------        --------
Antennas       Bent dipoles & end-     Same + rigid-metal beams.
               feds, wire beams,
               DDRRs, loops.

EMI            Since few places for    Probably more folks with
               TV antennas, most       outdoor TV antennas, so
               folks use cable.        TVI can still be a
               Those using rabbit      problem.
               ears are a problem.

               Telephones a problem,   Ditto.
               as are stereos &
               other appliances.

Grounding      Lack of good gnd means  N/A
               using artificial gnds or
               long runs for true
               RF gnds.  Can mean
               lots of RF in the
               area and coupling into
               power mains for common
               mode EMI problems.

VHF/UHF

Antennas       28-144 MHz, lower       Can be put high on towers.
               gain antennas fit
               nicely in attics
               or in outdoor nooks
               and crannies.

               >144 MHz, attenuation   N/A
               of signals trying to
               penetrate wet shingles,
               etc.

               High-gain antennas      N/A
               won't fit (EME dishes,
               ATV antennas, sat-
               ellite antennas) so
               must go temporary,
               portable, or work a
               deal for outside
               installation.

You get the idea.  Unless you're into the exotic modes in the VHF+ parts of
the spectrum, or have notions of making the DX honor roll in record time,
then you won't have too much trouble enjoying most ham pursuits.  You're
going to have to work harder than most folks to keep down RFI.  And if you
live in a garden-level or basement apartment with no windows, then a deep-
cycle battery, a good transceiver, and a mobile antenna affixed to a used
van make a dandy portable shack.

The true old timers out there will remember when a radio shack was a
shack...usually out in the back yard.  So what's so horrible about putting
your station in a van or some other mobile/portable setup?  If for no other
reason, it would give you ATVers a chance to show off something besides the
same old views of your den!  And if you want to operate 10 meters without
TVI problems, it's not too difficult to roll that mobile rig over to a park
and operate.  In any case, the FCC lets us use the airwaves mainly because
we're handy to have around in emergencies, and that means practicing
emergency procedures and putting together a good, portable station.  So get
with it!  Travel light, operate quiet.

Time for me to jump off the soapbox and let a few of you describe your
station setups.

BLOCK 2
STATION DESCRIPTIONS

Alan Brubaker, K6XO, of Draper, UT has a couple of interesting
descriptions.

The Condo Loop Antenna

A few years ago we lived in a condo in California. The
usual situation - no antennas allowed. Fortunately, each
condo had a small backyard with which you could do more
or less what you wished. I decided to try a loop antenna
in the small backyard. One corner of the loop was hung
at the roofline of the two story building, and the
corners of the loop were attached to the 6 foot fence on
either side of the backyard. I cut the loop for 20
meters (about 68 feet), and it just fit - it was roughly
triangular, and sloped away from the building at about a
45 degree angle. I fed the loop directly with RG-8 coax
with no balun. We had cable so no TVI problem. The
antenna tuner in my TS930 could tune this arrangement 40
through 10 meters, and I was able to make contacts on
all of those bands, but of course it worked best on 20.
I used #24 speaker wire which was nearly invisible.
Never had any complaints from the neighbors either, but
they probably did not know that I was even on the air.

The Fishing Pole Portable Antenna

About 30 years ago, a friend of mine, K6RU (sk), then
W6HJT, made frequent trips to Hawaii. While he was
there, he stayed at the Surfrider Hotel on Waikiki
Beach, and he always got a suite on the top floor. He
ran a KWM2 and a 30L1 amplifier to a "Fishing Pole"
antenna. He had a deep sea fishing rig, and wound on the
reel was bare copper stranded wire with a 2 pound lead
fishing weight tied on the end. He hung the fishing pole
out the window and reeled out the appropriate amount of
wire for the band that he wanted to operate on. (He had
measured the wire before the trip and marked it with
tape for 80 through 10 meters). He clipped the center
conductor of the coaxial feedline near the reel, and he
clipped the shield to a pre-cut counterpoise which was
run along the baseboard of the room. The wire fishing
line and the counterpoise thus formed a kind of dipole
antenna which worked surprisingly well. The combination
of being 150 feet above the beach and the 600 watts was
enough to overcome the deficiencies of the antenna
system and he got out quite well. This approach could
also work from a high-rise apartment building, if you
are not on the ground floor, that is.

Alan reminds us that it's pretty easy to be heard, even with low power and
a less-than-ideal antenna setup, given a clear frequency and good
propagation.  He says to continue experimenting.  Alan continues:

I have talked to countless operators, mostly on 10
meters, who are using all sorts of indoor and
clandestine antennas. I even talked to a fellow in
Florida one day who was using a ground mounted DDRR and
he had a surprisingly good signal. AEA and MFJ have come
up with their compact loop antennas which are also
useful in restricted situations.

Walt Spector, KK6NR, of Sunnyvale, California, operates most of the ham
bands from his condo.  At the time of his first installation, he was on the
board of his homeowners' association and had helped reduce some TVI from
the community's hot water heater by putting some ferrite around its power
line.

I first installed a 120' long wire and used a tuner.  It
was invisible, but living on the second floor I could
not get a good ground. Thus, it generated a lot of RFI
and I did not use it.

My second antenna was a Cushcraft Ringo half wave for 10
meters.  This was cheap ($40) and I figured it would
test the waters for a more extensive system.  I ran the
coax off the roof and into my upstairs window.
Almost no one noticed.

Buoyed by this success, I bought a Cushcraft R7.  Again
no one noticed any major difference.  First QSO on 40
meters was a local, second QSO was in Italy. I was now
on 7 bands!

I then happened to need 80 meters.  I built a 130'
dipole and fed it with twin lead, running the twin lead
into the same window as the coax. Things were starting
to get visible, but no one said anything.  This antenna
also seemed to work ok on 160 meters.  (First QSO was
Los Angeles, 500 miles.)  All 9 HF bands - great!

Then our complex needed a new roof.  The president of
the Homeowners Association asked me to take down my
stuff to get it out of the roofers' way.  (The timing
was perfect because we needed the R-7 for Field Day.)

When I went to put it all back up, I was stopped.  By
this time I was no longer serving on the board.  There
was an objection to my coax going off the end of the
roof, and also my walking on this brand new and very
expensive shake roof.
So I proceeded to enlist the support of the two board
members (of 3) who did not object to the antennas.  I
wrote a letter to the board explaining how I needed the
antenna for my volunteer participation in the local
ARES/RACES organization (which is true - our nets are on
10 meters).  I also got the president of the local
organization to write a letter confirming this.  The
letter asked for 'temporary authorization' so as not to
conflict too badly with the covenants.

The board finally approved the antenna with the
provision that I run the coax through the attic and a
vent pipe.  (The roofer and I had discussed installing a
vent pipe at a certain strategic spot...)  Since I live
upstairs, I could run the coax into the closet from the
attic.

So the R-7 is back up and I am fairly happy.  But I am
sans 80 and 160. My next project would be to use a
remote coax switch and up something simple on 2 meters
and 440, except that I will be moving soon.  The house
we are closing on was contingent upon lack of antenna
restrictions in the covenants.

Moral of the story?  There are several:

  -   Get on the board of the Homeowners Association so
      that you can be a decision maker - not a
      complainer.
  -   Get active with local ARES/RACES so you have a
      legitimate need for the antenna.

  -   Be sure that appearance is kept neat.  In my case,
      the major complaint was about the *coax*, not the
      antenna itself.

  -   Use non-obtrusive wire and vertical antennas.
      Save the multi-element yagis and dishes for your
      mid-life crisis.

  -   Be very helpful about RFI and tell everyone how
      great cable TV is.

  -   A condo can actually be an advantage if you play
      your cards right.  My antenna is 50 feet high with
      no tower.

  -   If you are buying a property, make your offer
      contingent upon the examination of the covenants
      for antenna restrictions.


Rob Ontiveros, KC6ZTT, of San Jose, CA, wrote in to describe his station in
his two-story condo.  He operates from his garage and uses a 40-meter
vertical constructed of PVC pipe.  Rob raises the antenna when he wants to
operate and then takes it down when finished.  Generally he's on the air
late at night or early in the morning, operating mostly 40-meter CW, at
about 50 watts.  At higher power levels, he interferes with his TV, and his
wife gets annoyed!  Rob was anticipating a six-week sabbatical when he
could operate 15-meter CW.

Rob also operates VHF/UHF, using a dipole antenna on 5 feet of PVC strapped
to the porch with bungee cord.

However, he has been thinking of going HF mobile so he can operate at

 * Origin: Courtesy AAZtech Research & Development 313-434-1881
(1:2200/2112.1)
=============================================================================

Hello All!

I will continue to post these as I receive them....they look useful.

John Mudge

--- FMail 0.96
 * Origin:  -->point MUDGE bbs * V.32b * Shelton, WA  USA<--  (9:1992/111)

Message number 10003 in "SURV NET COMMS"
Date: 09-18-93  10:53
From: John Mudge
To:   All
Subj: Pt 2/2: Condo Communicator #6


MSGID: 9:1992/111 2c9b3d03

PID: GED 2.41
=============================================================================
* Forwarded by John Mudge (9:1992/111)
* Area : RF_HAM (Crossnet: RF_HAM)
* From : Art Winterbauer, 1:2200/2112.1 (Friday August 13 1993 13:31)
* To   : All
* Subj : Pt 2/2: Condo Communicator #6
=============================================================================
better hours for chasing DX.  Rob would like to hear from people who have
used the Outbacker or Spider antennas for mobile work.

BLOCK 3
CONGRATS
I'd like to congratulate a friend of mine, Glenn, AE0Q, of Denver,
Colorado, who is soon to submit his QSLs for DXCC RTTY.  It took about 2
and a half years, and he operates from a townhome, too!  Glenn uses a fan-
type dipole, with the longest element full size on 30 meters.  The antenna
is fed with heavy-duty twin-lead and a tuner.  Glenn's favorite mode is
digital stuff:  RTTY, AMTOR, and CW.

BLOCK 4
TECHNICAL NOTES

The ARRL has a pretty nifty electromagnetic interference pamphlet that they
will send to ARRL members.  It's a reprint from the February and March 1992
issues of QST "Lab Notes" and was written by Ed Hare, KA1CV, Senior
Laboratory Engineer.  In addition to troubleshooting techniques (always
proceed from the easiest solutions to the most difficult), hints on
diplomatic dealings with neighbors, and some good theory (like
distinguishing between differential and common-mode interference), Ed
includes a long, long list of sources for filters and components.  This
looks like the EMI package to get and keep close at hand, especially if
you're using indoor antennas.

EMI/RFI Package

Updated: January 19, 1993  File: rfigen.txt

Reprinted from February and March 1992 QST "Lab Notes"
Copyright 1992 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All
rights reserved.

Prepared as a membership service by:

The American Radio Relay League, Inc. (ARRL)
Technical Information Service
225 Main St
Newington, CT 06111
203-666-1541
FAX: 203-665-7531
BBS: 203-666-0578
MCI: 215-5052
Internet: tis@arrl.org

BLOCK 5
BIBLIOGRAPHY

I dug out some old magazines and perused them for stuff interesting to us
condo types.  If you don't have these magazines poked away in the bookcase,
call up your local public library (and those public universities and
colleges, taxpayers) to see if they have back issues.  If they have a
copying machine, you're in business.  You can also write to the magazine
publishers and order back issues, too.

Don't forget to submit references you think the rest of us might find
useful.


Newkirk, Rod, W9BRD.  "Honey, I Shrunk the Antenna!"  QST, July 1993, p.
   34.  A neat article on miniature, multiturn loop antennas.  If you can't
   afford one of the commercial miniature loops, think about building one
   of these things out of wire.  For example, the loop for 160/80 meters is
   composed of four turns of wire, one side 3.5 feet and the other 4.5
   feet, with two variable caps and three fixed caps.  One guy's been using
   the 40-meter design from a room largely below ground.  I'm not *that*
   cramped for space, but something like this sounds like a dandy portable
   antenna.

Johns, Robert, W3JIP.  "How to Build an Indoor Transmitting Loop Antenna:
   Part I--10 and 20 Meters," CQ, December, 1991, p. 30.  If you're pretty
   handy with cutting and fitting copper pipe, here's some more miniature
   loops you can build.  The author operates these loops from indoors.  I
   know I've seen part two of this article around here someplace...time to
   clean the shack!  I assume it was in the January, 1992 issue.

Auld, Bruce, NZ5G.  "The Irrigator's Special:  A Free-Standing,
   Collapsible, PVC Vertical Antenna," CQ, April 1992, p. 38.  This little
   antenna consists of several sections of PVC pipe.  Two of the sections
   connect together to form the vertical 10 feet of support for the
   helically wound wire.  The other PVC pipe sections screw together to
   form a support foot for the antenna (shaped like an "H" laid flat, with
   the vertical section screwed into the middle bar of the "H").  The
   amount of wire is calculated from the old standard 468/freq in Mhz (half
   wave).  String out two radials and you're in business.  The article
   contains calculated lengths for all wire elements (including radials)
   and why 1/4 wavelength elements worked better or worse than 1/2 wave
   elements on some bands.  Another nifty portable antenna, but one that
   most of us could squeeze into an attic for some low-angle radiation.

Okay folks, let's hear from you!  Send your notes, ideas, station
description, war stories, and so on to me at:

Internet:  awinterb@du.edu
US Snail:  Art Winterbauer
           10047 E. Mexico Ave.
           Denver, CO  80231
Packet:    n0oqs @ w0ljf.#neco.co.usa

Also, listen for snippets of this newsletter on Hap Holly's (KC9RP) Radio
Amateur Information Network (RAIN), heard on various nets or by direct
dialup (708-299-INFO, no charge except for long-distance costs).

73,72. Art.

N0OQS @ W0GVT.#NECO.CO.USA
--
Art Winterbauer  N0OQS
Internet:  awinterb@du.edu OR awinterb@diana.cair.du.edu
Packet:    n0oqs @ w0ljf.#neco.co.usa

 * Origin: Courtesy AAZtech Research & Development 313-434-1881
(1:2200/2112.1)
=============================================================================

John Mudge

--- FMail 0.96
 * Origin:  -->point MUDGE bbs * V.32b * Shelton, WA  USA<--  (9:1992/111)