I've recently moved to Anchorage, Alaska, and it is "condo-city". I'm in a condo and, of course, that means no poles outside of any kind (I may pursue the flagpole idea in the future!). I also have only a 16' X 16' deck which serves as my backyard and which cuts down seriously on the length of any radials I'd like to install. I've always assumed that the metal in the car's body served as the ground plane for mobile whip antennas and wonder what disadvantages I would find if I used a section of metal (say, ten foot by ten foot) that would fit under the deck and which would act as a ground plane similar to a car's body. I could also lay down metal fencing tied together with copper wire and attached to three or four copper ground rods driven into the ground.
Does anyone have any experience using mobile whips as base station vertical antennas? Any thoughts or suggestions on my ideas would be greatly appreciated. 73, Pete |
