Ham Radio Attic Antenna Installation

Coaxial cable or coax os the.

Ham radio attic antenna installation. Again stay away from metal and wires to maintain your pattern. Install a 9 1 unun at the antenna end of the coax. In order to really test it i decided to skip the step of a temporary outdoor deployment and just go ahead and put it in to it s final location. The only concern with attic mounted antennas is the space available to you for mounting.

You will need a peak in your attic that is tall enough for the antenna to fit. The kb9vbr 2 meter j pole antenna is 69 inches tall overall. On vhf a beam antenna can work well in the attic even a rotator can be used. Unun stands for unbalanced coaxial line to unbalanced antenna.

If the top of the antenna touches the walls or roof the performance may be affected slightly. Remote rf switch control box in the shack chooses which antenna is operational in the attic. In the attic the antenna is not visible it is not exposed to weather and it can be installed without climbing onto your roof. Some radio hams have an attic antenna as a backup to their main antenna on the roof.

Hide stuff in the closet one of the challenges you may encounter is getting the coaxial cable up into the attic. On hf wire beams can be run on the roof supports or the rafters these usually are good for one direction only but can be switched electrically for different coverage. For anyone who does not like heights this is a great advantage. All radio antennas need a radio feeder to transfer the energy to and from the antenna.

There is no need to climb up ladders and possibly onto the roof with all the hazards for untrained people not used to climbing up ladders and handling them whilst up there. You should then make the coax shield connect properly to the pl 259 connectors at each end. The coax shield would then be properly terminated at both ends and stop being a rogue antenna.