Kendall wrote: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.

I have had good results with piano wire antennas. Piano wire is less expensive than copper clad steel wire and extremely strong. Of course, the electrical resistance of steel is higher than of copper. However, it is not high compared to the 73-ohm center radiation resistance of a resonant half-wave dipole and, of course, throughout most of the length of a half-wave dipole the radiation resistance is much higher than 73 ohms.

Piano wire is nearly invisible. In fact, it so invisible that it could be a safety hazard if strung low enough to the ground that someone might run into it. High above ground it is very unlikely that anyone will notice it and the performance difference compared to copper clad steel is negligible.

Chris

How about using your rain gutter, yes your rain gutter .. Like that huh.
O.k. one end is the center power lead to one end of the gutter.
The outer case is you know, ground or run threw the bushes very low Long wire.
Even against the foundation or just below the soil. (A long wire & gutter above).
But the gutter has to be the driven element. The outer wire has to run low, away from the gutter.
Check your roof edge that silver angel stuff it can't touch the rain gutter.
Wrong band length. (the roof edge). johhn KE5YGC

What about some "lightning protection system" with some good radio performance.

Is external TV antenna allowed?
-use of "TV antenna cable" as antenna

bluesky wrote:What about some "lightning protection system" with some good radio performance.

Is external TV antenna allowed?
-use of "TV antenna cable" as antenna

These are both excellent ideas.

These questions and ideas have been on my mind also!
Very nice suggestions from everyone.

I know this is a realitively old thread, but...
I just wanted to add that nice inexpensive Small Gauge Stealth Antenna
Wire Material is commonly obtainable from many sources:

(1) From Sears 0.030 in. (#20 AWG) Aluminum MIG Welding Wire made by
Lincoln Electric PN 4043 1 pound spool; length unknown; 250 ft? $11

(2) From Harbor Freight ~$10 for 0.020 or 0.025 in. (very inexpensive)
Copper Plated Steel MIG Welding Wire (spool); length unknown; 500 ft?

(3) From ACO Hardware #18 AWG Steel Dark Annealed Anchor Wire 50 Feet

(4) From various; 20 pound clear fishing line for wire-end suspension.
Use a small plexiglass insulator to avoid melting the fishing line due
to high RF dielectric fields; dont tie small gauge wire directly to
fishing line if using high power!

(5) Use your own imagination! Check out other alternate wire sources!

My thanks to the contributer mentioning multiple lengths to handle
higher power; I suspected that, but nice to see verification.
Probably also helps with bandwidth, too.

Common Windom Lengths fed with 9:1 Balun, 80M-2M = 41.5 ft + 96.5 ft
(Balanced High-Z transmitting antenna having no high-current nodes)
Documentation seems to indicate no worse than -2 dBi below cut dipole!
Use a fixed 120 pF 6 kV transmitting capacitor in series on long end.
Low SWR easily matchable with any Antenna Tuner.
See: http://www.erols.com/k3mt/windom/windom.htm

See also, Double Balanced Antenna Tuner.
For the purist who wants NO radiation on the feedline:
http://www.somis.org/bbat.html

Search for: Isotron Antenna* - amazing, how those things get out!
So small you could build a Bird Feeder disguised 40M Stealth Antenna!
Drivable as either a balanced OR unbalanced load.

OTHER TIPS:
Spray-paint odd-colored wire either light-blue/gray/silver to hide it.
With any of these Stealth Antennas, be sure to use a coiled 20 ft long,
12 in. diameter length of coax as a choke type balun when feeding them.
Some experimenters have used 3 to 6 in. diameter coiled forms on PVC
tubes, but the original reference refers to a 'dinner plate' diameter.
This is because with foam dielectric coax (common CATV 75 ohm), the
coiled form, over time degrates and the inner conductor nears shield.
Make sure coax is evenly spaced, and start is NOT near finish to
provide optimum isolation. This helps to avoid RFI at the transmitting
position, and TVI complaints from neighbors. Of course, as with ANY
transmitting antenna, the object is to place it AS FAR AWAY AS POSSIBLE
from other neighbors! I.E. Loading up the rain gutter in an apartment
complex is a BAD IDEA! Whenever possible, have a run of coax about
100 feet to a remote location, using the choke balun at ANTENNA END!
And remember, THE HIGHER, THE BETTER!!!

Dont be afraid to buy a shingshot, and shoot some wire into a tree!

And, ABOVE ALL, avoid High Voltage Edison Lines!
NEVER suspend Wire Antennas in the vicinity of Commercial AC Lines!

Good luck in all your Stealth Antenna Projects!

I also have to comment on the previously mentioned
'underground antenna', in particular ones for 80 Meters.
I have done this myself, and the results are amazing!

I used 16 gauge insulated commercial wire for the underground
80 Meter antennas to insulate them from actual DC earth ground.
I only ran 100 Watts for all of these tests; never an amplifier!
Theoretically, that type of wire is insulated for up to 600 volts,
so it 'should' be OK with up to a kilowatt, but only a guess by me.

My first experiment was a simple 80 Meter 1/4 wave laying on its
side. I fed it against the water pipe ground. That is the trick
for unbalanced underground antennas. The Radiator itself was at
first the usual 65 feet. Bad match up on 3.9 MHz Phone Bands, but OK
down at 3.5 MHz. It was buried at a depth of 3 inches in my backyard.
I trimmed it; trial and error, finally to 3.9 Mhz and then had
QSO's with locals in the AM. It seemed to be only 1/2 S-Unit (3 dB)
weaker than my Full Quarter Wave 80M Vertical in my backyard 100 ft
Poplar tree. I think that is due to the other Hams being horizontal.
Next, I tried a buried Full Wave 80 Meter Loop, again buried about
3 to 6 inches. IT WAS AMAZING!... It sometimes out-performed the
Vertical, this time, varying with different contacts.
Again, it had to be trimmed shorter than usual to resonate good,
and I used a 1/4 wave length of 75 ohm coax to match it.
The SWR was about 1.3:1, with no tuner.
Based on that experiment, I erected a full 80 Meter Loop at only
15-20 feet above ground around my backyard, and used that setup until
I moved. It seemed like only a half S-Unit (3 dB) between the Loop
15 feet ABOVE ground, and the BURIED Loop! I could hardly believe it!
So, really, you are actually slightly better off being above ground,
but in a pinch, an underground will be no worse than -3 dB, especially
if you use a full wave loop. Not bad! And talk about stealth!
Nothing visible! It seems hard to believe, but I verified it myself!
A better setup another Ham from Peduka told me about was to put the
80 Meter loop a full 1/4 wave in the air, about 50-60 feet or so,
and have a shorted, buried loop UNDERNEATH it resonated to 200 to 300
KHz BELOW the loop in the air. You KNOW that one really blows smoke!
However, I have to mention that contacts further away than 500 miles
or so are stronter with the 80 Meter Vertical. Some contacts further
away than the 500 mile mark cant even be heard on the loop at all!
But for local contacts, the loop is the way to go.
This might be applicable to 40 Meters also, although I did NOT try any
experiments with 40 Meter underground antennas or loops.