You can string a fairly serious straightwire (or not so 'straightwire') antenna in an attic if you've got usable space. The main part of my home is 28' x 38' and I've got an 8-pitch roof! Locating an Antenna in the attic also means you don't need to worry about lightning either. The key is a usable attic...Truss construction is not ideal, and a shallow pitch roof means tight quarters if usable at all. We here in the north generally have steeper pitched roofs in order to better deal with snow loads, so in my case I've got a HUGE attic! YMMV

Keep in mind with a "long wire" antenna you will most likely need an antenna tuner or matching device and a good ground on the radio station as the RF can get into everything and cause problems. I have a parallel diploe in my attic for HF and can work several bands.

For VFH/UFH small verticals or even a small yagi in the attic will usually work pretty well. A small yagi on a rotator will work really well since it will be much more directional. Yagi for VHF/UHF will be fairly small and need to me mounted with the elements vertically for FM.

Anyone interested might want to see if there is going to be any ARRL Field Day activity in their area this summer as Field Day is all about setting up temporary ham communications in fields, parks, people homes, vehicles, etc as part of emergency preparation.

https://www.arrl.org/field-day

Reviews and descriptions of various ham radio antennas.

https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-category?id=37

https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-category?id=75

https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-category?id=13

https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-category?id=36

Interesting end fed antennas for HF.

https://myantennas.com/wp/product-category/antennas/

Related forums.

https://www.eham.net/forum/index

For the diy folks . I decided to just spend money.



UHF Fiberglass Mobile Radio Antenna, 70CM 400-470mhz GMRS Base Antenna 17inch SO239 Connector for Ham Radio Scanner, Device Repeater, Mobile Transceiver, HT with Ground Plane Kit https://a.co/d/6359ffY

Have at look at Nelson HF Antennas on EBay; specifically their 80-10 End Fed. They just work and require no tuning.
I have more than 15 different HF antennas in use or in boxes.
The Nelson End Fed is my go-to for every day use.
I am not affiliated with Nelson Antennas, I just use them.
P.S. My antenna analyzer shows that the 80-10 end fed antennas are resonant on ham 2 meters (VHF) and 440 (UHF). However, I have not used them on those bands.
Billy

quote:

Originally posted by p113565:
Have at look at Nelson HF Antennas on EBay; specifically their 80-10 End Fed. They just work and require no tuning.

This antenna is a straight wire, 130 feet long. Must the antenna be fully extended in a straight line in order to function?

I have focused on ham rather than GMRS, but most of this should translate pretty easily. I started with a handheld Yeasu 65R, then when licensed, bought an Icom 2300 that I would transfer between the truck and the house. On the truck I have a Larson 5/8 wave whip antenna with an nmo mount screwed into the top bedrail of the truck bed. Electric is wired through the cab to the battery box and I use Anderson powerpoles to make the connections quick and easy. I eventually bought a second mobile radio, Yeasu 2980 to keep at home as a base station. Constantly moving the Icom back and forth got to be a pain in the ass, and I was getting some ugly scuffs on my radio, it doesn't affect the performance, but I didn't like it.
I also built, for my base station, a copper j-pole antenna that I have mounted on the top of 1-1/2 sticks of top rail for a chainlink fence. This gets me about 20-25 feet above the ground and with this and the 80 watts the 2980 puts out gets me into one of the more active local repeaters that is 25 miles away almost full quiet, sometimes a little scratch but clearly readable.

You shouldn't need an 80-10 meter endfed unless you want to get into HF radio, but then your talking about different radios with a significantly larger price tag.
You can build your own antennas for your base stations, and you can likely improve the performance of purchased antennas to some degree by trimming them to be resonant on you target frequencies. I f you should chose to do this, then I would recomend looking into the Nano VNA. It is an affordable open source vector network analyzer. Much of what it can do is still way over my head, but it is the cheapest, most reliable tool for building and checking resonance that I have come across.

As an aside, I went with Yaesu ft-891 for HF, and it works as a base station and mobile rig. I built an 80-10 meter half wave endfed out of an old discarded extension cord. I use a MAT30 autotuner with it.

Depending on how far you want to go, you can drop some big bucks in a hurry. Iv'e tried to go slow and make sure I don't overspend, and build what I can.

https://youtu.be/tLMAStiaAxU?si=TsRJv971bkj8fMB5
attached link is a you tube on the nano vna.

I appreciate all the input. The needed answers can be revealed but a measure of dedication as well as determination is required. Time will tell.

I may have an interesting problem or I may just be an idiot.

I have had my UV5R for about four years. I have programmed it with Chirp and I have programmed it manually. Today's problem is that I cannot get it to hold the repeater offset and direction in channel mode.

I can set it up just fine in frequency mode and then save the settings to a channel (empty) and the offset and direction will not save.

Anyone have any ideas? The radio may have outlived it's usefulness.

Thanks,

RMD

quote:

Anyone have any ideas? The radio may have outlived it's usefulness.

Is it possible that the offset is calculated internally based on the frequency you are inputting so it's not necessary to input the offset manually?

quote:

Originally posted by FiveFiveSixFan:

quote:

Anyone have any ideas? The radio may have outlived it's usefulness.

Is it possible that the offset is calculated internally based on the frequency you are inputting so it's not necessary to input the offset manually?

Probably so on the better radios, but that is not my experience with the Baofengs.

Thanks,

RMD

^^^^

This may help if you are using standard repeater splits. For non-standard splits, back up one page.

quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:
I may have an interesting problem or I may just be an idiot.

I have had my UV5R for about four years. I have programmed it with Chirp and I have programmed it manually. Today's problem is that I cannot get it to hold the repeater offset and direction in channel mode.

I can set it up just fine in frequency mode and then save the settings to a channel (empty) and the offset and direction will not save.

Anyone have any ideas? The radio may have outlived it's usefulness.

Thanks,

RMD

I don't have a Baofeng but I found this video that might explain it. Try not to get motion sick from the video.

@LouieH - do you use 80m very often? I’ve never even listened on 80 before. I like shorter antennas so I avoid the lower bands and use 40 m instead. 6,10,15,20,and 40 meters seems good enough for my needs. Plus VHF and UHF of course.

My HF antenna is a doublet: Cobra Ultralight Junior from k1jek.com. It’s more expensive, needs a balun, and a tuner but it gets me around the world.

quote:

Originally posted by ltz400:


I don't have a Baofeng but I found this video that might explain it. Try not to get motion sick from the video.

[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3UPVvtMCo3w?si=FZjRLxr4oF7DcVqS" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO]

Thanks. Holy cow, you have to love the one-handed YouTube videos. I will try this when I get the chance.

Thanks again,

RMD

My Baofengs arrived yesterday. The "manual" is worthless. Can anyone recommend a suitable aftermarket reference guide that is clearly written for the radio.

I’ve found these to be helpful for other radios. I can’t speak to the ones for the Baofengs though.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimineer:
@LouieH - do you use 80m very often?

I don't. Usually 40, 20 and sometimes 17 and 10.
When I built it I figured , why not. I've got the space to string it up and I might get into it one day.
I hear good things about doublets and would like to build one of those down the road.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
My Baofengs arrived yesterday. The "manual" is worthless. Can anyone recommend a suitable aftermarket reference guide that is clearly written for the radio.

The most entertaining way to learn the boofwang is by watching "NotARubicon" videos on you tube.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Must the antenna be fully extended in a straight line in order to function?

No, they can be set up as an inverted V, L, sloper, or just strung in trees as required. I don’t know how that affects signal directivity.
I have two set up as slopers 180 degrees from one another (High on NW end on one and high on the SE end on the other) I really don’t get a sense of one sending or receiving better in any direction.

quote:

Perhaps one of the ham radios intended for mobile installation, running off an inverter, as a member displayed earlier in this thread. In this way, a unit might be kept at home but also put into a vehicle for mobile use, unmounted.

Precisely what I have. A Kenwood mobile 2 Meter rig, a power supply and one of the mag mount mobile antennas sitting on on top of a large cookie sheet as a ground plane. Antenna sits on top of a floor lamp in my office.

There is an APC backup power unit with a spare battery sitting behind my desk. Won't carry the radio for long, but it is what it is.

Works fine.

RMD