jak@ky2d-2.UUCP (Jim kutsch) (03/12/86)
Years ago when I was in a college dorm, my two roommates (both hams too) and I loaded the dorm's rain gutters and downspouts as our antenna. We placed a small wood block under each downspout to insulate it from the metal (ground) pipe underneath. Then, we ran a very small enameled wire (#28 or so) through a hole in the screen out and under a sheet metal screw in the nearby downspout. Using an antenna tuner and an old HW100 we worked most of W. Va. with a signal as good as most mobile stations. Admittedly, most of the junctions operated as diodes and perhaps we generated TVI but no TVs were allowed in the dorm and there were no houses nearby. 73, Jim ky2d. p.s. net.ham-radio.packet is for packet radio related discussions; net.ham-radio is for all other aspects of ham-radio.
kludge@gitpyr.UUCP (03/15/86)
In article <143@ky2d-2.UUCP> jak@ky2d-2.UUCP (Jim kutsch) writes: >Years ago when I was in a college dorm, my two roommates (both hams too) >and I loaded the dorm's rain gutters and downspouts as our antenna. We >placed a small wood block under each downspout to insulate it from the >metal (ground) pipe underneath. Then, we ran a very small enameled wire >(#28 or so) through a hole in the screen out and under a sheet metal >screw in the nearby downspout. Using an antenna tuner and an old HW100 >we worked most of W. Va. with a signal as good as most mobile stations. >Admittedly, most of the junctions operated as diodes and perhaps we >generated TVI but no TVs were allowed in the dorm and there were no >houses nearby. Here at Tech, many of the dorms have bunk beds with metal frames. It turns out that if you remove the bottom bunk and place it on the floor or on top of the wardrobes, that the frame with the top bunk remains pretty stable and resonates pretty close to 6M. With a little tuning, it works pretty well, and you can put a desk underneath it. At one point, I had almost 100W going through the bed (not while my roommate was sleeping, of course). ------- Disclaimer: Everything I say is probably a trademark of someone. But don't worry, I probably don't know what I'm talking about. Scott Dorsey (kh6hsk) Kaptain_kludge ICS Programming Lab (Where old terminals go to die), Rich 110, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 ...!{akgua,allegra,amd,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!gitpyr!kludge USnail: Box 36681, Atlanta GA. 30332 -- ------- Disclaimer: Everything I say is probably a trademark of someone. But don't worry, I probably don't know what I'm talking about. Scott Dorsey Kaptain_kludge ICS Programming Lab (Where old terminals go to die), Rich 110, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 ...!{akgua,allegra,amd,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!gitpyr!kludge USnail: Box 36681, Atlanta GA. 30332
jhs@mitre-bedford.ARPA (03/19/86)
There is ALWAYS A WAY. My dormitory antenna, lo those many years ago, was a piece of about 100 feet of #22 enameled wire from the dorm to a tall pine tree. I used the standard shirt buttons for insulators and a simple PI network in the transmitter to match it. I worked all over the eastern half of the US on 80 meter CW with 3 watts. Incidentally, the transmitter was made by rewiring an old AM broadcast receiver that somebody threw out. The audio output stage became the final, and the other tubes served as oscillator, cathode follower, driver etc. Gawsh what fun compared to today's era of plug it in and if it doesn't seem to work, send it back to the factory (when probably all that was needed was to read the manual). -John S., W3IKG My advice: Get an antenna tuner and tune up whatever wire you can put up or connect to! (But don't get ANYWHERE NEAR the power lines!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)