Help w/ Antenna Location

[rrlangly]

Hi all,

I live on the 10th floor of a 30 floor high-rise building which is all concrete and I'm sure lots of rebar in it. So a little more than 100 ft. up. I'm located in the center of the building which has three more units to each side of me. I have a monopole which I mount over the side like a fishing rod w/ a length of about 16'. Its made by Chameleon Antenna. I receive 80-10 just fine. Here's my configuration, all cable is RG-8X and gear is Elecraft.

transceiver --> 3 ft. cable --> amp --> 1 ft. cable --> tuner --> 50 ft. cable --> antenna

I think my problem is just the environment I'm in and probably nothing I can do about it but I wanted to confirm this with some of you guys. By environment, I mean the building, its materials (concrete and rebar), another high-rise directly in front of me, and the position of the antenna (horizontal) which is the best I've been able to do. I've tried many antennas in the past, dipoles and such, but it seems the further I "fish" out and away from the building, the better the signals.

My real problem is that my signals are unreadable and very weak for anyone just a few hours or more driving distance from where I live, and thats using the amp. No one can make me out. They know someone is trying to contact, but the readability isn't there and the signal is too faint. I feel like my signal is either going straight down into the ground, or straight up into the sky. I did a scan using a RigExpert AA-54 and here are my SWR readings on the antenna.

1.900 kHz SWR: 4.7
3.900 kHz SWR: 2.9
7.200 kHz SWR: 3.9
14.300 kHz SWR: 1.40
29.000 kHz SWR: 1.7

UHF/VHF works fine as I can reach local repeaters, but HF … I feel like I'm just running out of options.

Any help much appreciated.

 

[wavrider]

MFJ Enterprises Inc.

If you can get a long wire hanging off the balcony, end fed per say.

You can lay your counterpoise inside your apartment, I.E ground, and use the artificial ground to tune it.

Since you are in the middle of the building the options are limited. But not impossible.

Hopefully other apartment dwelling operators will chime in.

 

[rrlangly]

Today I spent some risky time w/ the antenna during day-light hours (non-stealth mode), trying to tune the radial, and took some photos of the current setup. These might help in understanding what I've go so far.

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/7z68rexs71twj2f/vsILGA8beJ

I ended up removing the counterpoise from the base of the antenna which I had strung across the top of the railing. Turns out my SWR reading were better without having any radial at all. These are mostly down from what I had before.

Now I have the following.

1.900 kHz SWR: 4.8
3.900 kHz SWR: 1.7
7.200 kHz SWR: 2.7
14.300 kHz SWR: 2.5
29.000 kHz SWR: 1.7

When you say end fed, can you elaborate? I can't hang a wire over the balcony as it would clearly hang in front of other units and that would be problematic.

I've heard about those artificial grounds but since this is not my field, I was at a lost when reading the forums with respect to why use them and why not to.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

My real problem is that my signals are unreadable and very weak for anyone just a few hours or more driving distance from where I live, and thats using the amp. No one can make me out. They know someone is trying to contact, but the readability isn't there and the signal is too faint.

"For anyone a few hours driving distance away". This is outside your local coverage area and not far enough to be in your skywave coverage area. This is called the "skip zone" There is a definite range that communications is nearly impossible. Too close for skywave and too far for local coverage.

 

[mr_fx]

I ended up removing the counterpoise from the base of the antenna which I had strung across the top of the railing. Turns out my SWR reading were better without having any radial at all. These are mostly down from what I had before.

they SWR might be better, but the performance is not going to be better at all...

would should really limit this antenna to 20m and up, maybe 40m, and run decent tuner with it as well

 

[wavrider]

Thanks for the pics, now can tell what you are working with.

An A-99 will cover 10/11/12/15 meter bands no tuner or ground radials required.

For the other bands you may think of using a mobile set up, ham sticks or screwdriver type antenna.

Some ground radials laid on the balcony for counterpoise.

Low bands 80/160 ? Not a lot you can do there.

You should be able to work 40 meters and up with the ham sticks.

 

[vkrules]

Don't give up just got to get inventive. I once spoke to a Russian on 20 meters who was using a dipole draped out of his high rise bedroom window .What about using a Telescopic Squid Pole you can get them up to 12 meters long and they are about 1.5 meters long collapsed pull it in when not in use. All sorts of ants come to mind ,ocf dipole supported on 1 end of the pole and the other back to the balcony ,end fed dipole strung out along the squid pole( you could even let the radiator hang like an inverted L for a low band ant) , or a end fed with counterpoise on the balcony, just a few that comes to mind. One retired guy I know has a 10 meter delta loop on a pole strung off his retirement home balcony.