Dear all:Thank you for your replies. They bring up some clarity but even more questions. Frankly, I underestimated the antenna size. I thought some big indoor antenna would work. I saw wires with a balun that I could possibly run along the walls, but they range from 30 feet to 40 meters. Unless I arrange them back and forth like an "S", it won't fit. And I might RF-fry myself as soon as I hit the PTT key... To Daniel Poirot:I have limited access to the outside (small balcony near the roof), but I want to avoid drilling holes in the walls. When I retire, I'd like to sell this place and get a rural one-story house. There I can do more or less what I want, but here my space and my modification options are limited. I might need to look more into the end-fed antennas you suggested. To Rick Hiller:I have a small balcony on the roof (with the AirCon compressor taking up most of the space) which would be better than the second floor balcony. My third floor overhangs a bit and would not let me put a vertical antenna straight. The truck is my son's and it will not be there regularly. I have no idea what a network/tuner is. I am a bloody beginner, afraid of frying my ICOM. :-) To Steve Flowers:I saw the Wolf River Coils website (looks like a one-man show, but interesting). The Silver Bullet 1000 TIA for $150 looks promising, but it has 33 foot radials. If I can dangle those from the balcony, it might work. But if they need to go 120 degrees apart and horizontal, maybe not. My ICOM will be on the third floor, but I hesitate to run cables through the exterior walls. If I can lay out the radials like repetitive "S" lines to shorten the distance, I could set up the antenna in my bedroom and run the cable indoors. For starters, I will mainly listen anyway, but I would like to be able to press PTT one day when I am more comfortable. I need to look more into the EFHW antenna you suggested. If the Silver Bullet 1000 TIA works well in a Park, maybe I will get that and only use my station temporarily outside. Not optimal, but at least I would know it works. Then I have one more reason to count down the years and months to my retirement where I can pick a better place to live. Near downtown Houston is great for my commute, but not so great for many other things. If I get the SB1000, do I need anything else for the antenna part? To John Stevens:I will google the 44' Norcal dipole later. On the roof, I have some room for a vertical antenna, although due to storms I would not want it to be too high. Maybe a telescopic antenna would work. Again, the problem is to run the cable to the outside without holes.
It appears that I may need some kind of SWR-meter as well. And I am still not sure how to do the station evaluation. Thanks again for all your help. Since I don't want to spam this list, you can also reach me directly at [email protected] if you like. Best regards,Wolfgang
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