My cheapskate attic antenna

[Paul357]

Hello,

I set up a quick and dirty base station antenna in my attic. It's a Midland MXTA26 antenna fed by a MXTA24 NMO cable. I put a 14" aluminum pizza pan under it as a ground plane. I have about $55 into this setup.

The radio is a Wouxun KGSX20G+ fed by a Pyramid 12Amp power supply. So far I think it's working well. I guess I need some adapters to test this setup with my Surecom meter but no smoke yet.

Any tips or critiques appreciated. I wanted to test the attic concept before committing to more expensive hardware.

 

 

[WSEN940]

I'd say that if it gets you connected to who you want to connect to...then it's a great setup. I've been using the same antenna with a metal sheet in my garage, works great for what I need it for. If I needed to get out much further, I'd do something more elaborate as well.

My main antenna is an Ed Fong J-Pole that's also up in my attic. We have a 'lot' of wind and weather here and I put it there while I figure out an external, and permanent, solution.

 

[Socalgmrs]

Looks good.  Personally I would have spent less on a better radio and more on an antenna but if it works then it works.  
 

antenna and coax is light years more important then the radio. 

[SteveShannon]

12 hours ago, Paul357 said:

Hello,

I set up a quick and dirty base station antenna in my attic. It's a Midland MXTA26 antenna fed by a MXTA24 NMO cable. I put a 14" aluminum pizza pan under it as a ground plane. I have about $55 into this setup.

The radio is a Wouxun KGSX20G+ fed by a Pyramid 12Amp power supply. So far I think it's working well. I guess I need some adapters to test this setup with my Surecom meter but no smoke yet.

Any tips or critiques appreciated. I wanted to test the attic concept before committing to more expensive hardware.

 

 

Nice. If it works there’s really no reason to do anything else.  

[tcp2525]

12 hours ago, Paul357 said:

Hello,

I set up a quick and dirty base station antenna in my attic. It's a Midland MXTA26 antenna fed by a MXTA24 NMO cable. I put a 14" aluminum pizza pan under it as a ground plane. I have about $55 into this setup.

The radio is a Wouxun KGSX20G+ fed by a Pyramid 12Amp power supply. So far I think it's working well. I guess I need some adapters to test this setup with my Surecom meter but no smoke yet.

Any tips or critiques appreciated. I wanted to test the attic concept before committing to more expensive hardware.

 

 

Welcome to the forum. That is an excellent setup for "quick and dirty" that should perform well for you. These are perfect indoor antennas and should withstand the harsh temperature changes found in the attic.

[nokones]

12 hours ago, Paul357 said:

Hello,

I set up a quick and dirty base station antenna in my attic. It's a Midland MXTA26 antenna fed by a MXTA24 NMO cable. I put a 14" aluminum pizza pan under it as a ground plane. I have about $55 into this setup.

The radio is a Wouxun KGSX20G+ fed by a Pyramid 12Amp power supply. So far I think it's working well. I guess I need some adapters to test this setup with my Surecom meter but no smoke yet.

Any tips or critiques appreciated. I wanted to test the attic concept before committing to more expensive hardware.

 

 

That kinda looks like my attic for one of my three antennae. By any chance do you have a Del Webb constructed home?

I am using a Laird non-ground plane mobile antenna.

[WRUE951]

one of my friends living in a Del Webb community hung a J=Pole Antenna within a tree.. Worked good for him..  

[WSHH887]

Speaking of Del Webb, I was always impressed with the commercial buildings his company built. They put brass plaques on them with things like the architect and project manager's names. They took pride in what they built. Sadly today most builders put up buildings that barely meet code and begin to fail as soon as the last nail is driven. 

[WRXQ831]

I put this up in my attic for my repeater. It's just a backup that I can switch to in case of lightning. It comes with or without the ground plane kit, i recommend the ground plane kit. I haven't given it the distance test yet. 

[WRUE951]

On 5/4/2025 at 11:41 AM, WSHH887 said:

Speaking of Del Webb, I was always impressed with the commercial buildings his company built. They put brass plaques on them with things like the architect and project manager's names. They took pride in what they built. Sadly today most builders put up buildings that barely meet code and begin to fail as soon as the last nail is driven. 

Del Webb does not skimp and they are pretty savy at making deals i.e.   my buddy gets his internet as part of the association package, no extra cost.  Del Web make deals with Broadband providers whom they choose to allow to come into their properties.   He gets a basic 300MB package free claims thats all he needs.  I get about the same with my Starlink on my RV and it works great  

[TDM827]

Your attic antenna set up is almost exactly the same as mine. Ours is in our third story attic. I intended on replacing it with an external. But after doing some testing and realizing our topography meant an external antenna was not going to give us much benefit, I just stayed with the Midland / Pizza sheet set up. Low tech for sure, but it does exactly what we need it to do.  

[Paul357]

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm not sure if it's a Del Webb home. It's about 40 years old. For the most part it's a well built home. Nothing fancy. The attic over the garage is a good 7ft tall at the peak so I had plenty of room. Mostly I wanted to test the concept and these were the materials I had on hand. I got it all put together right before a local net started. I had to dodge my mother in law who wanted to chatter about what I was doing. Anyway, it seems to work pretty well. I am hearing the drive through girl at the Chik Fil A a few miles away, local highschool football coaches, road construction flaggers etc. More importantly, I can now hit a few repeaters that were out of reach with my HT.

I am in a bad spot in this valley for reception otherwise. I am at the low end of the valley, right up against a curtain of mountains that block me to the East and South.

On 5/6/2025 at 4:16 PM, TDM827 said:

Your attic antenna set up is almost exactly the same as mine. Ours is in our third story attic. I intended on replacing it with an external. But after doing some testing and realizing our topography meant an external antenna was not going to give us much benefit, I just stayed with the Midland / Pizza sheet set up. Low tech for sure, but it does exactly what we need it to do.  

You have the altitude advantage with that third floor. What kind of cable are you using?

[nokones]

My outdoor antenna for the repeater station and a third antenna in the shop window. The attic antenna depicted above post and the window antenna are just used to access repeaters in my area. I have two base station setups and one repeater station.

 

[GrouserPad]

On 5/6/2025 at 7:16 PM, TDM827 said:

Your attic antenna set up is almost exactly the same as mine. Ours is in our third story attic. I intended on replacing it with an external. But after doing some testing and realizing our topography meant an external antenna was not going to give us much benefit, I just stayed with the Midland / Pizza sheet set up. Low tech for sure, but it does exactly what we need it to do.  

Nahh get that antenna outside above the roofline and you’ll still gain ALOT of performance no matter what your topography is !!