I really want a 817/818 for a shack/portable rig but I’m not 100% sure how I would hide the antenna(s) in HOA hell.Originally Posted by mtnbkr
I really want a 817/818 for a shack/portable rig but I’m not 100% sure how I would hide the antenna(s) in HOA hell.
Have you checked with the HOA? I live in an HOA-afflicted townhouse in NoVA. When I got into radio and decided I wanted to put up an antenna, I contacted the HOA and said I wanted to put up a vertical antenna in my backyard (25x30 space with my neighbors close in around me) for "shortwave listening". The told me as long as it couldn't be seen from the street, it was ok. I had a Hustler 4BTV for a few years before removing it because I wasn't using it much and wanted to re-landscape the back yard. BTW, I used that antenna with the FT-817. I ran LMR400 cable from the rig to the antenna to conserve what little power I was putting out.
There are a lot of other options if you're creative. For a while, I ran a wire dipole around the top of my backyard fence. It was 6' off the ground and each leg was about 25' long. It worked with a tuner and I could tune the HF bands I wanted to use. You could do the same thing around the perimeter of the roof and thin gauge wire. I have a book on stealth radio if you want to borrow it.
As for the radio, when I got mine it was the only game in town for portable HF ops. Sure, you could make an 857 work, but you needed a helluva battery (that has improved with the current crop of Lithium-based batteries). However, for pure portable work these days, I'd have to give the Elecraft KX2 a close look. It's expensive, but comes with a lot of features I'd consider necessary. It's also smaller and lighter, though probably not as tough. However, the 817/818 covers more bands and modes.
Chris
I don’t want to ask the HOA because the rules specifically state the only antennas allowed are for satellite tv service. I think a hidden antenna may be what I need.Have you checked with the HOA? I live in an HOA-afflicted townhouse in NoVA. When I got into radio and decided I wanted to put up an antenna, I contacted the HOA and said I wanted to put up a vertical antenna in my backyard (25x30 space with my neighbors close in around me) for "shortwave listening". The told me as long as it couldn't be seen from the street, it was ok. I had a Hustler 4BTV for a few years before removing it because I wasn't using it much and wanted to re-landscape the back yard. BTW, I used that antenna with the FT-817. I ran LMR400 cable from the rig to the antenna to conserve what little power I was putting out.
There are a lot of other options if you're creative. For a while, I ran a wire dipole around the top of my backyard fence. It was 6' off the ground and each leg was about 25' long. It worked with a tuner and I could tune the HF bands I wanted to use. You could do the same thing around the perimeter of the roof and thin gauge wire. I have a book on stealth radio if you want to borrow it.
As for the radio, when I got mine it was the only game in town for portable HF ops. Sure, you could make an 857 work, but you needed a helluva battery (that has improved with the current crop of Lithium-based batteries). However, for pure portable work these days, I'd have to give the Elecraft KX2 a close look. It's expensive, but comes with a lot of features I'd consider necessary. It's also smaller and lighter, though probably not as tough. However, the 817/818 covers more bands and modes.
Chris
I really want to try my hand at QRP because of the low power and portability, but I also want to be able to hit the VHF/UHF repeaters and I don’t know if I can do it with 5 watts. But then again this past winter I hit a UHF repeater 35 miles away with a Baofeng handheld. I’m sure atmospheric conditions had something to do with it.
Thanks.
Gotcha. I don't think ours was as restrictive. I don't recall if I checked the regs or not.
QRP can be tough with hidden antennas because you need more/better antennas to offset the lack of power. FWIW, very thin wire, such as 26 gauge copper coated steel wire can be strung as a vertical up a tree, between your house and a tree, etc and not stand out. You could also run it as a loop on top of your roof.
How far are the repeaters you want to hit? Are they all 35miles away? A VHF or UHF base antenna isn't very large and would significantly increase the reach of that HT. A homemade J-pole (or a semi-commercial one such as those by Ed's Antennas can be mounted on the roof (clamped to a vent) or on a fence. There are a lot of commercial options that run the gamut in price and cosmetics as well.
There are lots of options if you get creative. Let me know if you want to borrow that book on low profile radio. It's mainly focused on HF, but much of that info applies to VHF/UHF, it's just smaller.
Chris
Does the HOA allow flag poles? Flag pole with antenna inside. This HOA vs ham radio operators is nothing new.
They don't need to know.
I've said multiple times on this site that I don't like Baofeng radios based on the ones (all UV-5 models) I've been exposed to. However, I recently learned of the BF-T1. It's a very limited device, 70cm only, no wideband receive, programming strictly through a PC, and low power. However, it's tiny and there are some hardware hacking options that could be interesting. It was a whopping $19 with programming cable through Amazon, so I bought one to play with. There are a number of 70cm repeaters in the area, so it won't be entirely useless. I'm led to believe it can be opened up to transmit on 2m, but it won't perform well due to the antenna design.
Hmm...Maybe this should have gone under the Retail Therapy thread...
Chris
And back to Amazon it goes. The T1 was hot garbage. No apparent front end filtering, it picked up noise from any electrical device nearby (apparently my FIOS box and every monitor in the house puts out a lot of noise on the 70cm band that my other radios filter out). It overloads easily and goes deaf as a result.
It's obvious this is just an FRS radio that Baofeng opened up to the full 70cm band via firmware. It lacks the features and mechanisms you would expect in a proper amateur kit.
Chris
Any of you guys participating?
I hiked into the woods and set up my portable station on a bluff overlooking a regional creek. Operating as a 1B-Battery station, I essentially got blown off the air by all the D-stations allowed by the COVID-related rule changes this year. It was a nice day though.
Everything in the pic fit into the pack. I also had my HT with a Signal Stick antenna and a speaker mic so I could monitor 146.52 FM on the way to my spot just in case anyone wanted to call "CQ" on that band and mode. The HT was in a small side pocket and the antenna was fished up through some molle loops on the side of the pack, keeping it all neat and tidy.
Yeah, I'm a geek.
Chris
Newer ham; "internet General" with little practical experience. Elecraft KX2 for SOTA; FT-60 and FT-3D for APRS and SOTA ascents. I still have not found a club to join. There are several locally but listening to the OMs on the repeaters bores me to tears. I have an interest in ARES but not the time currently.
I'd like to eventually purchase a base station and put up a permanent antenna. The garage seems like an ideal place to build a shack, but have concerns about the distance to the backyard and potential loss with RG-316 or RG-174 coax. I'm also in the last few lessons of learning CW, looking forward to my first CW QSO.
Awesome! Congrats on getting your license.
Since the time I posted that pic above, I've acquired a KX2. Most of my activity is with SOTA, but I do a little POTA as well. The KX2 has been brilliant for that. BTW, your FT-60 is probably one of the best basic FM handhelds on the market right now.
Repeaters can be boring. I generally don't use them myself. In the age of the cell phone and ubiquitous internet, they're not that useful to me. I also did ARES for a while, but found it boring as well. Outside of "utility radio" (staying connected while hiking, hunting, four wheeling, etc), I'm strictly a SOTA/POTA operator. I enjoy the challenge of getting a station on the air in random field conditions.
Don't use those types of coax for home stations. They're too lossy, especially at VHF and UHF frequencies. For HF, RG-8x would be my minimum. LMR-400 is good, but more difficult to terminate, stiff, and harder to route. There are even better choices, but the challenges with routing and termination increase yet again. How far is your coax run and what sort of power will you be running?
I'm not yet a CW op myself, but my buddy is. It's truly impressive what one can do with CW when SSB isn't cutting it.
Chris
Reply With Quote
