John,
Do you still have an automobile? I'm surprised that no one has mentioned
mobile operation in lieu of having a shack. When I lived in North Dakota for a
year back in 2000-2001, I spent the equivalent of six months sitting in my
parked automobile everyday operating HF, as I didn't have an antenna and shack
initially set up at the rental house. (Fortunately I managed to get a
temporary wire inverted vee made out of 300-ohm twinlead up before the winter
came with its cold, below 0 Fahrenheit temperatures.) You can imagine the
stares I got after work and every evening from neighbors and people driving by
as I would sit in the car in the driveway or out front on the street for hours
on end with big, noticeable over-the-ear headphones on. I was using hamstick
antennas with a Ten-Tec Scout turned down to 5 watts QRP. Granted, it was the
peak of the sunspot cycle, but it was radio and I got on the air with it,
including contests. I operated both CW and SSB
this way. Not the best, but possibly better than trying to use an indoor
antenna at higher power. At minimum, if your car is parked just outside a
window on ground level you can use it to mount the antenna that is operated
indoors.
Cheers/73,
Kevin, K9IUA
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