The Challenges of Ham Radio from an Apartment

I moved from my own large property, where I could have practically any size antennas I wanted, to a one bedroom apartment in the Sydney suburb of Wentworth Point, where I am restricted due to both the size of my place and by restrictions of the building management.

Nonetheless, my two suitcases brought from my regional home contained two radios, and some laptops as I intended to in some way get back into this hobby. Compared to the huge amount of gear I had in my previous shack and now in storage, this was a meager startup- made even more meager when I realised I had left power chords, microphones and antennas in storage. Unfortunately the massive changes that had happened in my life had left me penniless, but at least employed, so there is at present no option to return to my storage locker, as I can't afford the flight let alone the return journey with small rental truck required to carry my stuff.

So it is that today I am listening to the ARNSW and WIA news on the B receiver of my Kenwood TM-D700 on 147.000 MHz while the A side of the radio does ASPRS duties. With the few dollars I had a few weeks ago I purchased some used coaxial cable at the trash and treasure event at Dural along with a short length of 450 ohm ladder line. From these and a few pieces of pvc pipe, I made a Slim Jim 2 meter antenna. I originally planned to clamp it to the window but changed my mind and now it stands on the patio, held in place by some clamps as "tripod" legs. When I can afford some more PVC fittings, I will make a better base for it to stand on.

The Kenwood lacks a microphone, but I have arranged for one to be shipped to me. Hopefully it will get here soon. I do have a Baofeng GT3-TP with which I can just barely hit the Dural repeater from my balcony.

My next steps are over a period of time and in roughly this order-

1. Finish the base for the Slim Jim
2. Get the microphone for my D700
3. Build a 3/4 wave 20m loop for my balcony as per http://www.hamuniverse.com/kl7jrstealth20meterloop.htmlhttp://www.hamuniverse.com/kl7jrstealth20meterloop.html
4. Obtain a Codan 9350 antenna which will be perfect for balcony, just angled out of window. I have a great counterpoise available.
5. Adapt the whip for 160m band
6. Make a dual loop copper 80m mag loop
7. Bring my vintage equipment to Sydney so I can work 80m AM