Working Man's Apartment Base

[Aughtry]

Well, I haven't received my RCI to go in the truck yet, but I've been messing around with a base setup for the Galaxy DX959 that's coming out of the truck. With Radio Shack going out of business I picked up a bunch of components, fittings, adapters, and a 19 amp power supply all at 60% off. With only 19 amps I can't run the Palomar linear with it, so I'll be looking into 12voltpower's MegaWatt power supply soon.

What's working thus far:
19 amp Radio Shack 13.8v power supply.
Radio Shack Power/SWR meter.
Galaxy DX959 with poor man's channel mod.
Dosy FC50-S. Requires transmit, but can use tone to check SSB Freq on the Galaxy.
Cheap RoadPro external speaker.
My trusty ol' Astatic 636L



Setup on the end of the coffee table near the sliding door to the patio.

I'm on the first floor, so the setup has GREAT LIMITATIONS, but it's better than nothing I suppose. I have on the patio a Wilson 1000 that was on my truck before I upgraded to the Predator. It sits on a metal plate with 2 ground wires crossing underneath it, with one end going into the ground off the edge of the concrete patio. I actually get a SWR of 1.2:1 to 1.3:1 across the band.

For now I will be working the handheld in the truck until I get my RCI 2970N4. Yeah, the handheld... a Midland 75-822 modified for 120 channels. The receive is awesome with the Predator antenna, but the power noise is VERY annoying. It's short term, I keep telling myself.

[MDYoungblood]

Looks good. Do a little research on magnetic loop antennas and build one for outside, here is one for example;
http://fucimin.altervista.org/en/loop.html
and find one of these along a roadway to mount it on, makes a quick setup and take down;


3's

Greg

[jon6667]

im in the same boat. my landlord wont let me
put up a antenna. for now i have a dipole strung under the house eaves. it works ok. but it has many limitations.

[MDYoungblood]

I have a friend that lives on the first floor of his apartment building, he is lucky that the parking lot, (assigned parking), is right outside the patio door, he runs a coax to his car (an Audi no less), and uses a tri-magnet mount with a 102" whip, now that he has his ham ticket he bought a bunch of "quick connects" for the mount and switches out between ham sticks and the whip. He does well with that setup and no one has complained.

3's

Greg