Idea stage here…
I posted elsewhere that I moved into a tall metal and glass tower with an HOA—no antennas at all! I … more or less intend to ignore them. The problem is the only way I can put an antenna on the balcony is if the (not sliding, very tight-fitting) balcony door is kept ajar, with risk of being slammed by winds into my poor coax. There's also the YL would murder me in my sleep problem—winters sometimes get as cold as 16°F and summers as hot as 106°F. A year or two it got even hotter than that, 113-118°F for two days. I'd convert all that but y'all getting the idea: Hotter or colder than you want in a space designed for a heat pump to regulate temperature.
I found this:
Well, for 2m/70cm, I could probably get away with a slot antenna on our window, couldn't I? The one pictured behind my YL's computer is 59" tall and 46" wide, glass dimensions. Why slot? I don't think a slot antenna is going to be as sensitive to the metal window surrounding it like a j-pole would be. And foil tape either on the glass or on a substrate affixed to the glass won't be seen outside several floors above ground level on a building that reflects sunlight off the metal and glass.
Feedpoint? Bared coax copper taped to the antenna if on glass. If on a substrate, I'll crimp ring terminals and use some 6mm neodymium magnets bethind the substrate to make them stick in place. Possibly with a 2nd pair on top, I have tons of the things after all. They won't be going anywhere if the coax is run to my desk about 5m away from the window.
Power/building across the way? No idea what it'd take. If I get my TM-V71A fixed (broken double knob, as in two pieces, assuming it's cost-effective to repair in 2026!) I'd have up to 50W. That might be too much through 6mm copper foil. Otherwise 5-10W out of an HT. I was 57 to 59 into any repeater I had line of sight to with a MR77 magnet mount on the patio table as counterpoise despite the building being an obstruction between me and W7RAT on 70cm, and I expect the slot antenna will get similar performance … but I won't know until I build it.
Need a NanoVNA. But who doesn't? The rest of the bits for this antenna would be suuuuper cheap/simple.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Better ideas? Offers to buy the penthouse so I can put an antenna out there that's higher than most things in this valley?
I posted elsewhere that I moved into a tall metal and glass tower with an HOA—no antennas at all! I … more or less intend to ignore them. The problem is the only way I can put an antenna on the balcony is if the (not sliding, very tight-fitting) balcony door is kept ajar, with risk of being slammed by winds into my poor coax. There's also the YL would murder me in my sleep problem—winters sometimes get as cold as 16°F and summers as hot as 106°F. A year or two it got even hotter than that, 113-118°F for two days. I'd convert all that but y'all getting the idea: Hotter or colder than you want in a space designed for a heat pump to regulate temperature.
I found this:
Well, for 2m/70cm, I could probably get away with a slot antenna on our window, couldn't I? The one pictured behind my YL's computer is 59" tall and 46" wide, glass dimensions. Why slot? I don't think a slot antenna is going to be as sensitive to the metal window surrounding it like a j-pole would be. And foil tape either on the glass or on a substrate affixed to the glass won't be seen outside several floors above ground level on a building that reflects sunlight off the metal and glass.
Feedpoint? Bared coax copper taped to the antenna if on glass. If on a substrate, I'll crimp ring terminals and use some 6mm neodymium magnets bethind the substrate to make them stick in place. Possibly with a 2nd pair on top, I have tons of the things after all. They won't be going anywhere if the coax is run to my desk about 5m away from the window.
Power/building across the way? No idea what it'd take. If I get my TM-V71A fixed (broken double knob, as in two pieces, assuming it's cost-effective to repair in 2026!) I'd have up to 50W. That might be too much through 6mm copper foil. Otherwise 5-10W out of an HT. I was 57 to 59 into any repeater I had line of sight to with a MR77 magnet mount on the patio table as counterpoise despite the building being an obstruction between me and W7RAT on 70cm, and I expect the slot antenna will get similar performance … but I won't know until I build it.
Need a NanoVNA. But who doesn't? The rest of the bits for this antenna would be suuuuper cheap/simple.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Better ideas? Offers to buy the penthouse so I can put an antenna out there that's higher than most things in this valley?
