Many hams including many of you reading this are limited by hoa or other outdoor antenna restrictions.
Ham attic antenna safety.
I know because i live in florida in a community and i have added this amateur radio to my storm preparations but i was planning to do an illegal operation without a license.
It is theoretically possible to create a fire in the attic from your ham radio antenna but the conditions required for that to work require purpose and luck making this not a realistic concern for the typical attic farmer.
Just don t touch it.
Falling through the roof is a much more likely scenario.
What factors affect the rf exposure of people near an amateur station antenna.
Radiation pattern of the antenna d.
Radio frequency exposure is usually not a significant hazard for most amateur radio stations.
What uni you go to.
Distance from the antenna to a person c.
Bare copper antenna wire stapled directly on wood rafters causes loss of rf signal energy.
Distance gain and duty cycle are the three factors to consider when installing and safely operating an antenna system be it outdoors or in your attic.
Frequency and power level of the rf field b.
On hf wire beams can be run on the roof supports or the rafters these usually are good for one direction only but can be switched electrically for different coverage.
All of these choices are correct.
The house will act as a natural shield and as long as your attic mounted antenna system is independent to the rest of your antennas lightning won t be an issue.
If you really want to do an indoor antenna be aware that it s going to be a bitch to tune suscepable to all kinds of indoor rf noise and not very efficient though running jt and psk might make it worth while.
This is great for the amateur radio operator that is providing net control activities during a skywarn severe weather activation.
With time bare copper oxidizes the wood where the wire is tightly stapled to absorbs some of this oxidization and forms a loose yet lossy bond with the wire.
Again stay away from metal and wires to maintain your pattern.
But even if you can t put up an outdoor antenna you can still operate with antennas installed in an accessible attic space.
Lots of amateurs in these situations are doing so successfully especially on hf.
Safety and rf exposure are important topics to consider.
On vhf a beam antenna can work well in the attic even a rotator can be used.
It s perfectly safe up in that range of power.
If you are mounting the antenna in your attic you d need about 7 10 feet of space between the antenna and the occupants in the house.
