Clandestine 2-meter antenna
What would be a good, hidden 2-meter band antenna for a licensed Amateur radio operator living in quarters on a military base?
It goes almost without saying that the military have pretty stringent rules. We are not allowed to attach anything whatsoever to the house. I am forbidden to put an antenna in my yard, and I have no access to the attic, so that’s out as well. Basically, whatever I use to transmit and receive with must not be visible to anyone outside.
I also want as much range as I can get out of this VHF antenna, since the more repeaters I can access, the more contacts I will be able to enjoy.
A good simple solution would be a 1/4 wave mag mount on a cookiesheet – it does work. You might be suprised at how many repeaters you can hit.
I just tried the hamradiooutlet.com catalog and I couldn’t find an apartment 2M antenna. They do have mag mounts though.
A j-pole or Slim Jim halfwave antenna will give you better performance than a quarter-wave 2m mag mount antenna on a cookie tin, but it is a lot larger. This can be an advantage or a disadvantage – depending on your point of view. But since the antenna is going to be inside your house or flat, then it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I have one sitting behind the door of my study as I type this reply to you. It is made out of copper pipe, and it is almost 6 feet tall. I put it there for testing, and it has been there for some weeks already. I plan on mounting it above my roof, real soon now.
You could even make a simple half-wave dipole antenna out of old-fashioned metal foil strips, as used for old-style burglar alarms. Just measure two legs of about 9 1/2 inches each, stick the foil to a glass window, and connect a coaxial cable to the center. Now that’s a pretty clandestine antenna! I have known some apartment dwelling Hams to even make a small VHF or UHF yagi beam antenna by laying out strips of alarm foil on a window – which they could then open or close to change the direction it is pointing to! (It would be good to have use of an antenna analyzer, such as the MFJ 259 to make sure the SWR of any home-brew antenna is low enough and is working correctly.) You may be able to borrow one from your local Amateur Radio club. Be sure to check around.
I have used an end fed 1/2 wave antenna made out of coax. Typically I have used them for bicycle mobile, but I also have one for portable communications. I just use a clothes pin to attach it to a curtain near a window. Works pretty good!
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