Setting up a dipole advice...

[Mentor3006]

So I am in an HOA neighborhood, being able to put up an antenna is going to be difficult at best.

I can conceal a dipole so I ordered one, but not sure how best to install / conceal it. The options are...

In the attic. I can orient north south or east west, but horizontal.

Up the big ash tree in my back yard where I can orient vertically, but not a single clue how I can actually attach it to the tree.

So right now the plan is...

Troubleshoot and fix modulation issues with my Realistic TRC-465 AM/SSB radio + Realistic noise cancelling power mic.
Power it with my PM3-55 110v AC to 12v DC converter.
RG8 to dipole mounted ???

It's always been the antenna that has been the question...

Not going to put the McKinley II FCC in this one since I got that specifically for WX and FM features for my off road 4x4 club stuff, not needed on a base setup...

So what would work better for combined local and skip work? Horizontal or vertical orientation? Attic or tree?

[MDYoungblood]

Installing the dipole in the attic will compromise it as to the surrounding wires, etc., the tree would be better, you will need to get a string over a high branch to pull it up. Make it an inverted V or if you want it vertical, using a pvc pipe or old broomstick to tape the coax to and make a diamond shape, dipole on one side and string on the other, make sure the coax center is up and the shield is down. The coax needs to come off the center at a 90deg angle for at least 4ft on a vertical dipole. You can experiment with this, create a dirty choke at the ground with the coax, 5 wraps at 4.5 in dia.

3's

Greg

[De_Wildfire]

Stay away from the attic like MDYoungblood suggested its's compromise. I tried it once and I got a lot of AC noise from the AC wires running along the attic floor and it was a 10 meter dipole. The tree would be good for a dipole. Use a sling shot or throw it as high over the branch as you can get it. You would need to tie the other end to something like another tree or a camo pole with a flag on top. My dipole center point is behind the chimney and going to two huge trees on the ends of the property in a 90 degree configuration. For 10/11 meters, I also use a vertical for local/dx talking. I used four, four foot military masts sticking through a tree and the end of the iMAX 2000 vertical is sticking out the top a little bit. It appears that the rest of it inside the tree isn't affecting the skip or ground wave since I can talk to New Zealand, Australia, Europe and the locals up to 50 miles. I have everything hidden in our HOA here. A dipole, the iMAX2000 and it really took some planning to hide a HEX beam. When there is a will, there is a way. I did a lot of googling on how to hide antennas.