Well, I've been trying to figure out a way to get an indoor
rig going for a low price. My wife has had some medical
issues, so money IS an object right now. I could spend
close to $1000 and just buy a 2m/440 rig for indoor, buy
a tower & antenna, and pay someone to hook it up.

That being said, I don't NEED to spend $1,000. :-)

So I've been looking into alternatives - thought about
building a J-Pole - had someone share an indoor antenna
plan at a recent local meeting - had someone else tell
me a Diamond 50 was the best thing to do.

When it was all said and done, I went back to an earlier
solution - tested it late last night - pleased with it!

Okay - stopped at this point and typed this a blog post.
Going to paste here - or you can read at the following link.

http://jimmylogan.blogspot.com/2017/04/indoor-antenna.html


Hey folks! Yep, been a LONG time since I've posted here. Just been spending my
time on other things...

Woke up this morning early and Vanessa is still resting, so I thought I'd pop
on here and post. Hopefully will feel good to get some words down, me being the
communicator that I am.

I was doing a BBS mail run just now and was typing a fairly long post about an
indoor antenna test I did last night and thought I'd make a blog post out of it
too...

To go back in time, so to speak, before Vanessa and I bought our mobile rigs,
we were using her HT's that she uses for Fire Department use. Unable to
broadcast very far at all, I bought a 'magnetic' base antenna online to pop on
the roof and use the HT (handheld transceiver) in the truck. I was able to hit
the main 'local repeater' from Dyersburg regularly. I think I remember hitting
the Ripley repeater too...

So, that one had a wire break, so it got set aside. $30 for an antenna and it
not last? No thank you!

We went to the Huntsville Hamfest and Diamond Antenna had a booth. I mentioned
it to them and they said "Lifetime Warranty" and send it back. Meanwhile, we
bought matching mobile rigs - Diamond 770 antennas - Diamond antenna mounts, so
it wasn't really needed. I did send it back for a replacement, but it just sat
here for a long time.

Fast forward a bit... Vanessa and I have been to Skywarn classes and are
interested in weather spotting / storm chasing. This is great when we're in the
truck - 50 watts - can hear and hit MILES away - but not so great in the house.
Not having hundreds of dollars to spend on an indoor rig, antenna, tower or
mast, etc. I started looking at alternatives. 

A local HAM in the local club gave me some suggestions to try and an offer to
help. Another user shared his plans for an indoor antenna I can build for less
than $20 using copper tubing. Haven't done more than read through the plans.

So a few days ago I remembered this little mag mount that did so good on the
truck. Last night I connected it to the HT and activated the repeater at Spring
Hill. I've activated it before, but so far so good. I called out for a quick
check and BOOM - got an immediate reply! Was reported as great signal strength
& clarity!

Popped over to a further repeater that I've never been able to activate at all
from the handheld - got the response tone right away but didn't call CQ since
it was late. Bottom line - success!

The Spring Hill repeater is the local one for weather. There's one in Union
City that I want to try - the next two are Jackson then two in Jonesboro. Not
sure if they will connect, but from home the Spring Hill one is the primary
one.

By the way - the antenna is a Diamond MR73.





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