Ham Radio Forum

I just moved into a new area with severe antenna restrictions. Basically, I am prohibited from installing exterior antennas of any kind. Nonetheless, one way or another I am determined to install both HF and VHF transmitting and receiving antennas. Consequently, I have been daydreaming about all sorts of creative stealth antennas. I thought some of you might have ideas I haven't thought of. Some of you must have been faced the same problem in the past. How did you overcome it? I am open to almost anything. Maybe something you suggest, even if it requires a different twist, will solve my problem.

Roberto

One solution that shouldn't violate the restrictions could be to install antennas on your vehicle, park it in your driveway, and run a coax cable or two into your shack. That isn't a stealth solution, because the antennas would be in plain view, but it should get around the restrictions.

If a typical 8 foot mobile whip won't be high enough for the results you want; how about attaching a monster antenna when your vehicle is parked? A mighty tall vertical or a mast supporting a small beam antenna could be clamped or bolted to a trailer hitch! If you get complaints explain that you could install a more attractive antenna in the usual way if it wasn't for the ridiculous external antenna restrictions which force you to use the method you are using.

Corey

Small gauge (large AWG number) wire antennas are nearly invisible if they have light gray or light blue insulation. The trick is to use copper clad steel wire. Copper clad steel wire doesn't break easily, even if the wire is thin, because of its high tensile strength.

Antennas made from thin wire have narrower bandwidths, but that problem can be overcome by using multiple spaced conductors. The classic method is to form the multiple wires into a cage arrangement, but a cage arrangement isn't necessary. Two or more wires can be strung side by side horizontally or above and below each other vertically several inches apart with similar results.

Another advantage of using multiple parallel wires is increased power handling capability. A single strand of small gauge wire might melt at current nodes and there might be excessive corona discharge off the high impedance ends at high power. However, multiple strands of small diameter wire can be used at high power levels without those problems.

Kendall

I don't know how often flag poles actually are used as antennas, but one of the most common stealth antenna suggestions is install a metal flag pole and then to feed it against ground as a vertical. You shouldn't get in trouble for being patriotic. The higher the flag pole, the more patriotic you would seem to be!

Ken

Yes I agree with Ken,a flagpole could be your answer.
If you can't manage a tall one, then some folk have slid a Hustler 6BTV (they have no projections) inside white plastic plumbing tubes and use a smaller flag.

It should be good for low angle DX,and if you want a local ragchew antenna for the low bands then a very low trapped dipole (80 & 40) along a fence or whatever will work excellently,mine is at 8 feet but I've had them working much lower. Try a search on NVIS antennas.

Good Luck

Why restrict yourself to a single non-directional flag pole antenna? How about putting up three flag poles, with, for example, a UN flag, country flag, and state flag, and tuning them as reflector, driven element, and director of a vertical beam antenna? Of course, the directional radiation pattern would be fixed, but in some applications that would be fine.

Matt

Arrange those three flag poles in a triangle (instead of inline), drive all three with adjustable phasing, and you will have a flag pole antenna with an electrically rotatable radiation pattern.

Use four flag pole radiators arranged in a ring with adjustable phasing and you can duplicate the directive power and gain of a rotatable 90-degree corner reflector. Use five flag pole radiators arranged in a ring and you can duplicate the directive power and gain of a rotatable 60-degree corner reflector. See Page 819 of Frederick Emmons Terman's 1943 edition of the "Radio Engineers' Handbook" for more information.

Of course, a hollow plastic flag pole could easily contain a single or multi-band VHF antenna and a custom collinear vertical with considerable vertical gain could be designed to fit within a flag pole. A tall flag pole could even contain a 10-meter collinear with useful vertical gain.

Andy

Roberto Velasco asked about stealth HF and VHF antenna ideas, but anyone with a high window ledge or deck who needs a high-gain stealth UHF antenna should consider a metal flower box antenna. I cut the side out of metal flower box, replaced it with a sheet of plastic, and then taped a phased array of UHF dipoles inside the plastic. The metal backside of the flower box serves as a plain reflector, giving the antenna lots of forward gain and directivity. Of course, because the directivity this idea will work only where it is possible to aim the side of the flower box toward the desired coverage area. A few plastic flowers can be attached to the top of the box to make it look like a typical flower box.

My antenna is designed for ham radio use, but there is no reason the same design idea couldn't be used to construct a high-gain 2.4 GHz WiFi stealth antenna.

HI,
I wonder if you have decided what invisable aerials you are going to use?

Have you considered the EH antenna they are very small about 8ft for 80m but they are mono band

also do you have any indoor space like an attic to string up some wire,
as i used a doublet indoors which i attached one end to a plastic curtain rail and the other end 50ft away in an other room to another curtain rail

and i was amazed how my 10 watts signal was heard managed a japan
and usa contact

Patrick GW1SXN

PS. I have just heard about another antenna called the NoCounterpoise Antenna 40m tru 10m seen on ebay
looks like a zepp longwire but only 50ft long with 1st 25ft twin wire