I’ve had a 44 foot doublet in my loft for quite a while now…..made from a lawnmower lead, coat hanger and cut plastic curtain rails for ladder line spacers. Being disabled myself the wife simply hung it up with no further fuss. A homebrew ATU gets me 40m up no problem and even recently tuned it for 80m & 160m albeit very NVIS. Everyone said I was mad but I’ve never been more radio happy! Good to hear others singing the virtues of such a setup. Enjoyable video, very well done. 73 de M7VIC

I run a loop in the attic fed with 600ohm open wire, and works great. Just use stand offs and go completely around the attic perimeter. Since I have a 2 story home with full attic, the feed point is 30' high, and the balanced line goes out the side of the house to the MFJ window pass-through. Like most, I'm forced to the attic, but for me in my situation, it happens to work well. 73

Great video! I like doublet antennas and agree they work well in the attic. I had one in the attic but I had to take it down when I was having work done up there after the flood of 2016. The antenna was like a dipole but it was bent into a 25x5 rectangle fed at one corner with it open at the opposite corner. I found this design in the W1FB Antenna Notebook and it was called a Half Wave Open Loop. I fed it with 300ohm RS foam filled TV twinlead into a MFJ 4:1 Balun which was attached at an LDG Z11 Pro autotuner. It loaded up on 40-10 and worked pretty well for the most part. I often worked Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas regularly. It had some odd characteristics, like on 20, it had very little signal to the northwest and on 15, it was kind of weak toward South America. Even so, I had a good time with it and because of changes in my attic(moving of an air handler up there), not sure I can put it up again. I'm working on a linear loaded antenna I hope I can get up there once the weather cools down. Doublets can act oddly on some bands depending on how long they are and how they are configured, but they are a great option for those with limited antenna options.

I love your bedside manner! The world isn't full of confounding problems, it's full of delightful solutions! I'm busy finding all the reasons why every antenna is crap. You're busy making contacts with every antenna. :) I was going to suggest you should have been a doctor. But in many ways you are a doctor. I certainly feel better every time I watch one of your videos.

One tip. Look around for desk grommets, round plastic devices that are used to feed power and computer cables through the top of desks. They're also perfect for passing feed lines through ceilings, including 450 ohms one. Most have a flip lid that can be close up when it isn't being used or when you move. Choose a color that matches your ceiling.

Just returned to the hobby after 15 years and had decided that at 67 running around rooftops was no longer an option. My attic has 26 foot from wall to wall! So I bought a 40m to 6m 33 foot long wire antenna with a 9:1 unun, with the remaining 7 foot in a L shape. Fed with 10m of 213 to a RU1:1 and into a MFJ 901b. My first contact was Russia. Now working all around Europe - that will do for me. Just use what you have and enjoy the hobby GM4UYK

Good talk on attic antenna. Not complicated. Like the music. .

Works great - used to use a variation of this. Just remember that the ladder line is part of the radiating element (ie it IS part of the antenna ) not just a transmission line (except the resonant frequency that the dipole is physically cut for).

I’m now retired and wanting to get back into amateur radio, a doublet in the attic sounds brilliant, have 50 feet of 450 ladder line and 14 gage wire just waiting!

I still have both my vhf and dual band vhf/uhf antennas in my attic. My first HF antenna was a 10M inverted V I installed in the attic and surprisingly I made my first contact almost 2000 miles away on 10M. I've since moved all my HF antennas outside but I intend to leave my vhf ones in the attic because they are protected from lightening. Thanks for all the great info you pass along. Jack K5FIT

Great informative video Peter as usual 😊 I use an end fed with a 40m trap in the loft and work across Europe and into East Coast USA and under favourable conditions I have worked Brazil on 60w. I found with a new build that the wood in the loft contained a lot of moisture and if I tacked the aerial to the rafters then it de-tuned the antenna. I would therefore recommend using stand off from the main rafters in new builds - I used cord to hold the wire taunt and well away from any wood. The only slight concern I have is, given the high voltages in an end fed to ensure that you limit the power you put through an end fed hence I limit myself to 50 to 60w to be reasonably safe. This might be overkill but I would welcome thoughts on fire safety with loft antennas. 73 Neil

Great ideas Peter , I’m sure many would have to have a major tidy up of the attic first though , hi hi

I had a fan dipole for 20/15/10m in my attic and it worked quite well. I replaced it with a single band 15m dipole as an experiment, but your doublet idea is very interesting. I was thinking about making a 40m dipole from two of the Hamstick type antennas to see what happened. Maybe the doublet would be a better idea.

Yes I am glad I became an amateur when CW was required. 73 de W2CH

End fed random wire seems to work in cases where running ladder line is an issue, sometime running coax is easier

ham cw did beat texters in a speed race. yes both people on both ends of each style were very qualified speeders in there mode.

On 2m if you don't have enough space for a quarter wave you simply go for a rubber duck helical.. on HF if you want a helical simply go for a slinky.. you can even have enough space to get resonant (but resonant 40 would be difficult to tune on 20 so non- resonant with ATU probably still better)

I have a 40 meter dipole in my attic. Horrible HOA Regis. The HF antenna picks up lots of noise. S-8 or 9 is a fabulous day. That said, I have worked Europe, Asia and the whole of the US of A. Requires tons of patience. Rig is 706MK2. Antenna elements is 12 AWG copper wire. Feed from the center is 450 ohm ladder line. Yes, it works, but not superbly. When lots of snow falls…the antenna is somewhat worse.

Due to HOA requirements, I installed a 40m - 10m (66 ft) inverted V EFHW in the attic. House framing is wood with a composition roof. While it has worked well on FT8, doing voice has been a real challenge. I'm currently trying to decide on if I should install a EFHW or vertical outside and if it becomes an issue with the neighbors, ask for forgiveness (rather than permission) in an attempt to upgrade my HF capabilities.

Great videos… but 14/15m of wire in attack ? Mine is 6m across….. Pete

Love your videos, been licensed for 40 years in VHF/UHF digital + voice so having retired now starting on HF. Luckily we have people like you sharing your wealth of expertise, thank you Peter! Question, As I'm 450' ASL (mid-Devon) with a clear take-off in most directions I've been toying with the idea of the garden fence wire antenna you mentioned a few weeks. Would I be correct in thinking the loft doublet is likely to offer better results on 7Mhz in partial or could results still vary?

It is hard to beat a doublet!

Indoors= severe ruddy interference stick it outside can't go wrong.nicely explained though cheers

Great thoughts. Here in the US I often come across a lot of secondhand 300-ohm twin lead. Will 300 ohm be as effective as 450 ladder line? Already have a nice copper-coated welding-wire based dipole throughout the attic and into the yards, both front and back. Next step may be to try ladder line and tuner for transmitting tests. 73's.

I would just like to comment on drilling holes in ceilings. If you are in an older property and you have a texturing on your ceiling such as 'Artex', it may contain asbestos and you should get advice before disturbing it.

Hi - thanks Peter, very interesting video / suggestion - would it matter that the long axis of my loft is East - West - thanks Rob G1VXD

Do you have any idea on how well an attic antenna would work if you have a steel roof?

Most houses built in the last 15 years or so have roof linings with a metal layer. How would an antenna perform is this situation?

That key was very dusty. You can't use it a lot.

Currently using a " nest" of dipoles for 6/10/12 via a 1:1 current balun, if I used 450 direct to feed point, bring into shack , could I use the 1:1 then coax to ldg AT100( with bias -T- controller) Or need a different " balun?" Andy M0*** Dorset

Peter, what would your thoughts be about power level (in terms of tx) ? Also, I have just bought an Icom AH-4 and wonder if I would be able to use it with the ladder line to feed a doublet in the attic? One leg of the ladder to the ground and the other to the ant terminal ?

Bravo e competente ! '73 de ik0rks - Franz

Excellent - living on a modern housing estate this would be perfect to try - thanks (M7HBK)