Ham Radio People Metro ATL

[Leveraction44]

Some things you can forgive and forget. Some things you never get over. She's right there in my mind with the group of hippies at the Atlanta Air Port when I came through in dress blues in 1971 and they spit on me, called me baby raper and child killer. I hadn't even been to Vietnam yet. If not for some other GIs dragging my butt away I'd probably still be in jail for throttling them.

I can understand your thoughts on that incident. I would have felt the same way if in your shoes.

I bet those were mostly teenagers and maybe a few in their early 20s. I remember when I was that age. I was young and stupid - stupider than most.

I could read a bumper sticker and think I was well versed in the subject.

Those years are when we lost the culture war. The seeds were planted, and the weeds grew.

 

[Leveraction44]

Any of you operate in the 20 and 40 meter bands?

Any good home brew antennas that could slide by an HOA?

 

[Don231s]

Any of you operate in the 20 and 40 meter bands? Any good home brew antennas that could slide by an HOA?

If your HOA allows wood fencing in the back yard, wire on top of it works well. Also, you can run wire along the facia of your home or under the soffit. Flag poles can be made to support verticals. If you are an engineering type or wannabe, flagpoles can also be turned into radiating towers. Look up the OTARD Rule, too.

Just a random link that I found.
https://www.onallbands.com/antennas-for-hoa-restricted-residences/

 

[Wheeler]

I run a 40m dipole in my attic. You can use it for 20m with a tuner.

 

[Electra_glide_ryder]

^^All good info there. I have a 10 & 20 meter 1/2 wave dipole suspended between 2 trees. Use black 12 ga. wire and black paracord and it is almost invisible. RG8X feed line is also fairly small and difficult to see. A home brew Slim Jim 2 meter antenna in the same tree works well also for local repeaters. Paint it flat black & it’s hard to see. Lot’s of info online about hiding antennas. The attic won’t work for me as I have a metal roof.

 

[Leveraction44]

I would like comments from experienced hams.

As far as radio bands go, if repeaters were down, is HF the only reliable band for RF communications say from 5 miles to one hundred miles?

 

[Klif]

Depends on sun spot cycle and other variables, day time, 10 meters, 15 meters, 20 meters, 40 meters, after dark 80 meters. Depending on power, antenna and conditions any of these can be good for 5 miles to around the world. Most of my day time net working for close in stuff, using a half wave dipole on 40 meters worked well with stations a mile away and 100 miles away (daily net at 5pm local).
After dark most of the HF bands really kind of go away but 80 meters works well. 160 works but not many have a big enough antenna field to support it.
I haven't had much luck with 6 meters at all for the last few years, YMMV.
I know people with CB radios running amps that work 5 miles to across the country depending on skip. It's pretty haphazard and not what I consider reliable for emergency coms.

 

[mountainmoped]

40 meters with a homemade dipole about 6 feet above ground (NVIS) works nicely for me. I can usually cover a 300 to 600 mile radius with 100 watts or less.

 

[mountainmoped]

Anything above 30 MHZ is usually line of sight unless some E skip or tropospheric ducting is taking place. 6 meters seems to work well in mountains for some reason.

 

[Leveraction44]

My primary interest is not DX. I know that VHF and UHF are primarily line of sight. I don't live on a mountain top - more of a hole - so I assume that VLF and UHF are off the table when repeaters are down, and I am trying to reach someone 10, 20, 30, 50 or 100 miles away. I would think that HF ground wave or NVIS would be the only choices.