Ham Attic Antenna Safety

The only concern with attic mounted antennas is the space available to you for mounting.

Ham attic antenna safety.

Before i take the leap particularly into hf i need to learn more about antennas in the house. Many of these same hams would have other excuses if it were not for the antenna it would be something else. Lots of amateurs in these situations are doing so successfully especially on hf. The fact is most guys who talk about attic antenna limitations are not serious to operate.

I ve read some of the hf 10m homebrew constructions and they seem do able for me but. The world is divided into operators and observers. 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. Bare copper antenna wire stapled directly on wood rafters causes loss of rf signal energy.

If the top of the antenna touches the walls or roof the performance may be affected slightly. On vhf a beam antenna can work well in the attic even a rotator can be used. First is safety with less than 100 watts what do i need to know about health and fire hazard. With time bare copper oxidizes the wood where the wire is tightly stapled to absorbs some of this oxidization and forms a loose yet lossy bond with the wire.

But even if you can t put up an outdoor antenna you can still operate with antennas installed in an accessible attic space. Yes in the attic. The attic shortwave antenna wire this is the most importantaspect to improve. The kb9vbr 2 meter j pole antenna is 69 inches tall overall.

Many hams including many of you reading this are limited by hoa or other outdoor antenna restrictions. The lack of an external antenna is really an excuse for not taking action.