Life in an RF hole

Like most people, there's a reality that confronts any hobby: the demands of work and home, other hobbies, and the swarms of people who would like to get their hands on our money for everything from food and hobby supplies to good causes and scams. How do we work amateur radio into a crowded schedule?

For a starter, amateur radio can fit in with a lot of other hobbies. If you like to watch trains or airplanes, keep in mind that they use radio to communicate. Your license doesn't allow you to transmit on their frequencies, but you'll have a new understanding of how their systems work (and, in some states, a legal pass to carry your scanner — see my article " Amateur Radio for Railfans" for more information). There are groups that get together on the air to talk about just any other hobby you can think of. And not only might they discuss knitting, the boxes that knitters and crafters use to organize their tools also works well for radio stuff (see "A Trip to the Craft Store"). If you're looking for something interesting to take photographs of, the innards of a radio are a great place to look (the older the better, although new ones often yield interesting images with close-up equipment). And since amateur operators tend to get together, there are pictures to take of meetings or groups. The storms that amateurs often chase also offer great variety, and some make a nice sideline selling those pictures. Photographers can also share by providing illustrations for training or instruction. This is true of storm spotting or other endeavors — some people need to see how to plug cables in.

Another reality is housing and its restrictions. A man (or woman) is no longer king (or queen) of the castle. Home owners associations, lease restrictions, space, and ability to climb ladders impose limitations. Our first clash was living in an apartment, and on the first floor in a low spot, no less. It doesn't take a techno-head to understand the idea of "line of sight transmission." And when you live in an apartment, there are a number of restrictions. They all stem from the obvious: it's not your space, and you can't modify as you want. You also have to share the building with others.

In addition to lease restrictions, there are matters related to construction. At the time we got our licenses, we lived in Texas. We noticed right away that reception in our apartment was poor. Using guidance from a club member, we asked our office staff about the building. They said that it was wood-frame, and suggested we sign up for cable TV. With more help from that member, we looked at the corners and foundation and found out that beneath that nice stucco on the outside of the building was a screen mesh that held it in place — and also acted to trap most of the radio energy that came to the doorstep, or any that tried to leave.

We thought about purchasing an antenna designed for apartments. A review of the lease terms made it clear that someone was over-reacting to an horribly botched installation job somewhere in the past, probably of a television satellite dish, as well as a CB'er who didn't know what "4 watts maximum" meant. We didn't expect to put up a big antenna, but thought we could at least stick a 2 meter ground plane somewhere — well, not there.

Mobile operation suddenly became a greater interest, and we continue to pursue ways to work around these restrictions. One trick that helped was to put an ordinary magnet-mount antenna on a pizza pan and stick it near a window. That changed from total static output to being able to get our call understood after reapeating it a few times.

After a couple of years, we moved back to Indiana. Our first apartment was still in a low spot — but it wasn't surrounded by chicken wire. We could hit some repeaters in the area that were high on the tower, but not our local ARES one, which was on a short tower over a hill. We also noticed that every loose connection, CFL lamp, and whatever else creates a lot of electrical noise. We knew that, of course, but this apartment seems to have a lot of those kinds of problems.

We've now moved into a house. There are no covenants or restrictions, but we don't really have room for a tower. And with a host of other things to do, there hasn't been time to put up an antenna. But we also have DSL, which has opened the door to EchoLink. You can complain about the lemons or make lemonade, so we're off on another exploration!

Revised 25 May 2010; first version 2004
Photo credits:
301a: Arnold Reinhold, Cordwood construction, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cordwoodcircuit.agr.jpg, CC-A license.