Gang,
For 20-some years I have scoffed whenever I read or heard about somebody
who had to use an indoor antenna. I was convinced that there was no way
anything like that would work.
I'm sorry, I was wrong.
Even though I am a huge fan of Rocky's articles in the Mi-QRP Club
magazine, I need really gave much credance to his "ramshackle radiator."
So anyways... for several years we've owned this small cottage up in the
"thumb" of Michigan. The children lovingly call it, "The Little House."
Even after all those years, I never got much up for a skyhook, other than
the occasional mobile-whip-on-a-magmount-stuck-on-the-shed.
A few weeks ago, I bought a 50' spool of 16ga lamp cord at Radio Shack.
So out of desperation last night, I split that 'zip cord' down the middle
and quickly had a tangle of two 50' wires.
After untangling the mess I had created, I cautiously screwed the striped
end of one of the wires into my trusty MFJ tuner. There was NO feed
line, so I simply decided to use the "Balanced Line" output connections.
My Triton IV sprang to life with the buzz of the 40M band. Within
moments, I had that first 50 feet of wire run all along the walls of the
cottage. The wire was stuffed into cracks, draped over the windows, hung
over doors. The second 50 feet was connected to the opposite side of the
balanced line outputs and likewise draped in the opposite direction,
ending up in the closet of the girl's bedrrom.
What I ended up with, was basically, a six-foot-high horizontal loop,
indoors of an aluminum sided 900 sqft cottage.
The antenna loaded up fine on 40M. My daughters and their overnight
guest were none too pleased with the TVI, but they needed to go to bed
soon anyways.
The NJ-QSO Party was active and I quickly made a few QSOs, both on high
power SSB, and QRP CW! There was a lot of activity on 20M so I tuned up
there and worked a station in TX while running 10W SSB.
I worked a station in France on 40M CW and 100w.
Actually, I worked everyone I could hear. It was almost like being at
home.
Imagine if this were outdoors!?! I'll be putting up a horizontal loop
soon at W8KC. Maybe this year *I'll* work a few more foxii!
73! =paul= W8KC
Collector of Ten*Tecs and other fine plastics
<http://www.acs.oakland.edu/~prvalko>
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