Ham Talk Live! Episode 188 - Stealth Antennas and HOAs

John Portune, W6NBC will be on HTL! Thursday (10/31) at 9 pm Eastern to talk about the challenges of having antennas in HOA restricted areas, and how antennas can blend in with the surroundings. Be sure to tune in to hear his ideas and call with your questions!

Tune into Ham Talk Live! Thursday night at 9 pm EDT (Friday 0100Z) by going to hamtalklive.com. When the audio player indicates LIVE, just hit the play button!

If you miss the show live, you can listen on demand anytime also at hamtalklive.com; or a podcast version is on nearly all podcast sites a few minutes after the live show is over. Some sites include Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, SoundCloud, and iHeart Podcasts; and it's also available on YouTube. A replay is also broadcast on WTWW 5085 AM on Saturday nights at approximately 6:30 pm Eastern.

Be sure to CALL in with your questions and comments by calling 812-638-4261 live during the call-in segment of the show. You can also tweet your questions before or during the show to @HamTalkLive.

 

I have now helped a few fellow hams to create stealth antennas - including energized gutters, an OCF dipole in an attic, and a magloop. Until the ARRL and FCC stand up for us, this may be the best way to get on the air despite overbearing neighbors.

 

My first antenna was a repurposed elliptical satellite tv dish used as a slot antenna on VHF and UHF. Just about 100 miles on 40w SSB. I say it works well enough.

 

If you find yourself needing to camouflage your radio hobby, here is a list of links for stealthy antennas…apologies in advance if some links are broken:


http://www.arrl.org/shop/Stealth-Antennas-2nd-Edition/
http://www.arrl.org/limited-space-and-indoor-antennas
http://stealthamateur.com/
http://www.k4vrc.com/uploads/1/0/1/5/10156032/present-tvarc_antenna_guide.pdf
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/10-ultra-stealth-antenna-designs-for-hoas.260566/
http://hflink.com/antenna/ About 7/8 of the way down see the Broadband Butterfly Terminated Dipole
https://www.eham.net/articles/29557
http://www.g4ilo.com/stealth.html
http://www.bvarc.org/pdf/HF_Antennas_by_KD5FX.pdf
http://www.rsgbshop.org/acatalog/PDF/StealthAntennas_Sample.pdf
http://www.iw5edi.com/technical-articles/hidden-and-stealth-antennas
https://kb3kai.com/dss-j-pole
http://www.w4wta.com/Off_Center_End_Fed_Dipole.htm
https://amrron.com/2015/01/23/stealth-radio-antennas/
http://www.n6cc.com/tactical-antenna-systems
http://www.af4k.com/ham/hidden.htm

 

My TW2010 is an 8' tall ground mounted vertical dipole. 10,12,15 17 & 20 full legal limit. Band switch box provides dead flat SWR with no tuner needed. I frequently receive unsolicited "You've got a big signal!" reports. The neighbors have no idea what it is and it is barely visible over the privacy fence. Expensive, but absolutely worth it. Easily transportable. Hang a bird feeder from it. Survived Harvey mounted in a patio umbrella stand! 40 meters available. Works well on 2m, too. Stop wasting time. Here's the solution. (All the awards on my page were won with this antenna.)

 

W5TTW, DX Engineering says this is NOT a "full legal limit" antenna. It handles 1200 Watts PEP, and other power limits are 800 W CW, 500 W RTTY/Digital, 375 W AM 100 percent modulation. Not a QRP only antenna, for sure, but not full legal limit either.

 

Yeppers! Stop wasting time on TTW's lame antenna. Here's the solution: a REAL safe HOA antenna! And I'm a certified Hammy Geenyus.

 

Yup, I erred. Only 1200 whats. (I only run 600.) Thanks for the correction!

 

Curious, why would you have antenna restrictions in a large back 40 like that? in Texas no less?
Art

 

I congratulate this fellow for trying to get the word out that HOA’s although a pain in the rear part of you back side are not the end of ham radio, ..
and I say this with no personal experience , , since I always check the “”RULES”” before I buy any house,
I think most of the pain is self-inflected, For heck sake , don’t buy a house with HOA’s , these folks are like a bunch of Nazis’s ,, look…. most places no one can see a number 18 wire tied to your house, trees, lamp posts ,,, something similar , if all else, have a vertical, on a hinge, lay it down it the day, raise it up at night, are there rules about radial wires, that no one can see, ?????????????

Flame me if you want, but get a life, challenge the idiots, just don’t roll over and play dead. Try something , don’t blame the HOA for your lack of interest in the hobby…………… I learned in the military, if you ask permission, the answer is always NO,,

 

Some stealth "HOA-proof" broadband HF antennas based on the BBTD Antenna design:


BBTD Antennas

 

Best advice:
Avoid purchasing a house in a HOA development if you want to pursue amateur radio to your liking.

 

W2AI has it right. Or at least make sure that what antenna restrictions exist are reasonable. The people there don’t want antennas? Fair enough. Buy elsewhere.

Oh, you didn’t read the restrictions before you bought? Work to change them. (It can be done. I’ve done it.)

 

One of my neighbors complained to me about several vertical antennas on my roof. No HOA antenna restrictions in my neighborhood. I told him don't look up there if you don't like them. My other neighbor across the street, took him 8 years to notice them and I had to point them out to him. Then we drank beers and talked radio. Turns out he's an old navy guy and did some radio work while in the navy.

 

My XYL is the homeowner's association at my QTH. The boss-lady says: No antennas on the house, no antennas visible from the street, and every antenna I put up is going to get scrutinized.

All antenna feeds are buried, the NEMA 3 distribution/grounding box is hidden in the trees and painted brown, conduit and entrance panel to the shack is hidden behind the chimney chase, the OCF is nearly invisible and I just put a tower up at the far corner of the property that is invisible from the street in the summer and isn't viewable from any window in the house.

I love my homeowner's association