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Growing a 2-meter Flowering J-Pole
2 March 2016 | by 
Dave Savidge, AF5DN, lives in a neighborhood governed by a highly-restrictive homeowners’ association (HOA). Many of these neighborhoods have strict “no antenna” policies purportedly to protect the aesthetics of the community.
The Texan ham needed to hit a repeater some distance away, so he built a stealth J-pole antenna disguised as a flowering vine. The design allows him to hide the 2-meter antenna in plain sight on his front balcony — while also providing a nice decorative touch!
The base of the J-pole sits in a split-PVC holder, embedded in a poured concrete base. This provides weight and stability in the bottom of the flower pot. The J-pole is held in the PVC holder by a hose clamp. There is a hole cut in the bottom of the pot to feed through the coax leading to a low-profile weather-proof MFJ window antenna feedthrough.
The flowers were sourced from his local Michaels craft store. The other components are readily available at Home Depot and Lowes. There are many great J-pole plans available free online, including this 2m/440 dual-band “Copper Cactus” from N7QVC.
Do you live in an HOA? What antenna designs do you use to maintain a “low-profile?”
4 Responses to “Growing a 2-meter Flowering J-Pole”
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- Matt W1MST, Managing Editor
What a great Idea. I really hate when they adopt “community standards”, like this which basically translates to, “You better not try and live a life unlike the rest of us”. Funny though, the bulk of the people will give up their property rights, even though they don’t like the restrictions any more than we do, because they are too timid to stand up to say Hell NO!
Where there is a will, there is a way. nice job.
Although I applaud the stealth antenna making ingenuity of Hams who live in these HOA communities, hopefully the Amateur Radio Parity Act gets passed and puts an end to alot of this HOA nonsense toward external antenna’s. Hams who live in these HOA’s shouldn’t have to resort to these means just to have a simple antenna to make use of their license and enjoy the hobby.
HOLA AMIGOS , MUY BUENA IDEA , FELICITACIONES , LES COMENTO QUE AQUI EN URUGUAY EXISTE UNA LEY QUE CALIFICA A LOS RADIOAFICIONADOS : DE INTERES NACIONAL , POR LEY .ESTA LEY NOS PERMITE PONER ANTENAS EN EDIFICIOS ( OBLIGATORIA ANTE CUALQUIER NEGATIVA DE LOS CO- PROPIETARIOS ), CASAS , CUALQUIER LADO , CUMPLIENDO CON LAS REGLAS DE SEGURIDAD ( QUE SON LAS MISMAS QUE TENEMOS TODOS ) .EN MI CASO , TENGO 8 ANTENAS EN MI TECHO ( CASA , NO APARTAMENTO ) , UNA DE ELLAS ES YAGUI 10,15 Y 20 METROS Y ES MUY GRANDE ….SALUDOS …RIK–CX9BU