Suburban UHF solution

 

I just wanted to post this picture of one of my antenna setups. This is what I've been using for the UHF PuXing PX-777 in my "home office" for about five months now. 

This primitive arrangement lets me hit at least eight repeaters while I sit at my desk and work on the computer. Even if my HOA made me take down my tiny dual-band, mag-mounted whip on the balcony, I could still get on the air with this. So don't think that you can't participate in ham radio because you live in an apartment, townhouse, or condo and aren't allowed to have an exterior antenna. 

This is, of course, a metal paint can functioning as a mediocre UHF ground-plane. I'm using a NMO magnetic mount with mere RG-58U coaxial cable, and the antenna is a Browning 1/4-wave mobile whip. 

Nothing about this arrangement is "proper". The can should be about a foot in diameter (minimum) if one were to go "by the book". The cable should be at least RG-8X for UHF, and a 5/8 wave would be better choice. But it works. Sure, I have better antennae and a better radio elsewhere, but this lets me listen to the local activity and talk while I'm doing something else. 

The antenna cost about $8, the mount and cable ran around $25, and the can was pulled out of the dumpster. The PX-777 is $64 at 409shop. For under a $100, you can be a ham radio operator on UHF out of any place that has a window. And there are even cheaper options. 

VHF would require a larger piece of magnetic metal to act as a sufficient ground-plane: a cookie sheet, a steel shelf, the lid from a 55-gallon drum, a steel ironing board, or a refrigerator. Buy a $50 BaoFeng, a $23 Tram 1185 dual-band mag-mount, and a $2 SMA cable adapter and you're on both bands. Plus, you can put the whole thing on your car if you want company on your commute some particular day. 

If you're out in a rural area with the nearest repeater 15 miles away, this might not work well for you. Odds are, there's nobody on the local repeater in that case anyway. 

And, yeah, you have to take that easy written test and wait for the FCC to give you a call sign. 

Just don't let the "elite" hams tell you that you've to spend hundreds on a radio and another hundred on an antenna to be "taken seriously". If you can talk to people, you'll be taken seriously, because that's a skill that many of the "elite" lack. No expensive rig is going to make you more interesting, unless all that you want to do is talk about your expensive rig. That's not much to talk about, either.