Building my Base Station

[Codejockey]

I know this has been asked tons of times,but I'm having a hard time finding help for my situation. Now that I've got my general ticket and my Jeep is taken care of, I plan to start working on my home base station. I live in a townhome that is 2 story, and i cannot install an exterior antenna due to area regulations. Therefore, I'm limited to my attic. Now my attic has plenty of space, so I should be able to install something in there that will work hopefully. I mean, I realize it won't be as good as an antenna on a tower 50' up, but being in the attic of a 2 story building shouldn't be too bad, I hope. That said. I plan to start out with 2M / 70cm as that's what I Have. In September, I am looking to add an HF rig. Now, I have about 60 ft of room up there in a E-W direction and maybe 20 ft or so N-S. Height, at the tallest is probably 10', but I need to verify that. I do know at the tallest point, is a window.

That said, can you guys recommend something for me to get started with. I'm completely open to building one (and in fact would like to give it a try). My onlyc concern with building it, is that I don't want to screw up a radio by making a mistake in my antenna construction. I know I could probably just throw a multi-band magnetic antenna on a cookie sheet by the window, but, I"m hoping to be able to do better than that with a dipole or something.


Also, here is the list of what I'm going to get for my Base Station in the way of radios / other equipment:

2m/70cm Radio (to start with)a
HF/6m Radio (later on)
Linear Power Supply
Wattmeter / SWR Meter

Will this get me started?

 

[W5LZ]

Codejockey,
I think you certainly have some possibilities! That's going to depend a lot on just what is in that attic, how it's situated, and how you might be able to 'work around' things. But, I don't see why you couldn't/wouldn't have room for an antenna down to about 40 meters without even half trying, sort of.
Biggest problem is making things 'fit' with what may already be up in that attic. Not knowing that, I doubt if I/anyone could say something would 'definitely' work, or might work. I think it's a fairly good bet that almost any 2 meter/70cm antenna could 'fit' up there. While not impossible, I think I'd sort of rule-out beams though.
Loops would 'fit' down to 40 meters, circle the attic with it, little bit higher on the rafters, stick another loop for a higher band. -IF- there wouldn't be anything in the 'way'. Same for a 40 meter dipole running diagonally?
The next biggest (or maybe THE biggest) problem will be from interference to neighbors. The possibilities with that are almost limitless, so I ain't even going there.
What would be one piece of equipment I'd recommend to what you already have? Did you guess a tuner? Manual tuners tend to be more versatile until you throw lots of money at the automatic ones. What else would I recommend? One of everything! Can't go wrong with that. Broke maybe, but not 'wrong', you know? (How would I know what else you might find of use?)
There's very seldom only -one- way of doing something, so figure out the 'other' ways, that's what makes it 'fun'.
Have fun!
- 'Doc

 

[Blue Jay]

I would probably start with a J pole for 2M & 70CM bands. Also for HF do you have gutters on the building? I have a friend in a similar situation and the gutter is what he uses with a tuner he works 6 to 80M very well, he also uses a J pole made of twin lead just hanging in his shack room. Have fun and enjoy!

 

[BJ radionut]

Attic antennas

CJ/Peter:
I agree with Doc...you have a few options to work with. I think for a quick start you can try a Diamond VX series antenna. They are short and effective for 2m/440. They will mount on small piece of plywood setting on the rafters with a Christmas tree stand for a base. I noticed from your callsign Dallas/FW area so hitting repeaters and simplex operation should be a good effective antenna set-up to get going.
I also knew of a Ham that had a set of 4 element beams mounted Horizontal on a rotor for 2m/440 for working SSB...he used the cheap Radio Shack rotor mounted on plywood and did very well with that also...very small.
MFJ makes a very good little 5/8 wave GP for 2m for like $30. I used one for a long time inside for my scanner and 2m FM from a 3 story apartment. I could easily work 30-40 miles away with 50 watts simplex. Diamond and several others make "shorty" HF antennas "WD series" about 30ft long that will fit your needs.
I have worked many in your type of housing running screwdriver antennas in the attic or on a balcony running just 5 watts with short radials under them for HF...
The best things is there are many antennas that will work...you do NOT need the best! Your going to find that just trying different "thingy's" (sorry Doc I had to use that) is one of the most RadioFun parts of Ham radio.
I have worked the world on 5 watts or less and NEVER had the best...
Check out the website for NAQCC for some that can do it all with almost nothing....tell them old #77 sent ya
All the Best
BJ

 

[Codejockey]

Thanks for the replies guys! I can't wait to get my base station up and running. I'll update y'all with my progress!