My antenna situation in June 2020
We moved into another house and my antenna situation changed a lot!
I cannot put up a high antenna here but a long(er) wire antenna is not a problem. Next to this I set up a 2m / 70cm / 6m stick antenna to have at least a minimal presence on these bands.
My main antenna is now a 23 meter long HyEndFed wire antenna that can handle 400 watt, which is the legal limit for my Full license here in The Netherlands.
I’m still trying it out so I have no opinion yet on this antenna.
I did make QSO’s with Mauritius and the USA which at least shows it’s not a big dummy load! 
The company that makes this antenna makes pretty good antennas so I’m sure it will work out good.
The antenna starting point.
I stuck the antenna to the side of the house. As you can see, I added a MFJ line isolator close to the antenna plug to reduce any RFI. It’s the little white stick on the bottom of the pole.
My antenna situation in June 2016
At the moment I cannot put up a big antenna so I’m using some compromise antennas. The most important ones are two or actually three dipoles in the attic.
Why am I not sure about the number? Well, 2 of them are put into one to make a fan dipole (also called a butterfly dipole). This fan dipole is for the 10 meter band and the 20 meter band.
It works perfectly; it’s resonant (1:1.1 all over the bands) and very effective. My record is 16000 km (almost 10000 miles) on the 20 meter band (Melbourne Australia) and 12500 km (almost 8000 miles) on the 10 meter band (Argentina) both with 100 watt power. So it probably doesn’t compare with a Yagi but for indoor dipoles it’s not bad!
My third (or second) dipole is an inverted V for the 15 meter band.
For 2 meters and 70 centimeters I have a Diamond X30 antenna, also high in the attic.
Next to this I have a few QRP, mobile and handset antennas and a homebrew 70 cm Quad (read my blog about this).
Some pictures of my dipoles
The one in the back is the fan dipole (10m and 20m) and the inverted is the 15 meter band dipole.
Because of the length of the antennas it isn’t possible to put the whole picture here, but you get the idea right?!
Some pictures of the ATAS 120A antenna I had installed:
I removed this antenna because I have better antennas at the moment.
The Atas I am still using in mobile and portable operations. I’m leaving the images here as reference.
Another antenna I had: the MFJ-1786x Magnetic Loop Antenna
The unboxing:
Opening the thing up. Doing extra quality control! 
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Hello liked the pictures and the antenna, I would like to know the measurements of the antenna ATK measures to here because I do not find in Brazil that I’ll have to buy the same make, which is the measurement of the radial antenna.
http://qsldobrasil.blogspot.com/
PARABENS PELA ANTENA MUITO BOM! GOOD.
Fan dipole and inverted V dipole ga ik proberen. Mooi site!
Bedankt Pieter. Laat me weten hoe het gaat met de dipoles!
Can you describe the coupling that allows you to put on the counterpoise radials? Did you make it yourself?
The counterpoise kit is a kit that is sold by Yaesu especially for the ATAS antenna. You can also make the radials yourself of course, that wouldn’t be difficult but I bought the ready made kit. http://www.yaesu.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1213
This kit is only for the higher bands (50mHz and higher). For HF you just need to stick the antenna to a big piece of metal; like a car or a balcony rail. 😉
Hè hallo, ik zag een filmpje op u tube dat je een mfj loop uitpakte hoe was je ervaring ermee? Vind je het waard om er bijna 500 euro voor uit te geven? Ik heb geen mogelijkheid meer om een grote antenne te plaatsen, ik heb er nu 2 gehad en allebei gebroken ( woon in de kuststreek van friesland ) heb wel een wire antenne, zou je mij de mfj aanbevelen of zeg je hou het lekker bij je draadje ☺
vriendelijke groeten,
richard
19dp364 ( helaas nog geen licentie 😉 )
Hoi Richard,
De MFJ 1786 loop antenne is een mooie antenna maar niet om mee te starten.
Het is goed om je eerste antennes zelf te maken om een beetje door te krijgen hoe het werkt.
En ik moet zeggen dat mijn zelfgemaakte dipool (draad) antennes erg goed werken. Ik heb nog geen antennes ontdekt (behalve richtantennes) die beter zijn.
Ik gebruik de MFJ voor die momenten dat mijn dipoles niet goed genoeg zijn en voor die momenten dat ik een band wil gebruiken waar ik geen dipool voor heb. De MFJ is ook een beetje richtingsgevoelig en ook wat rustiger dan mijn draadantennes dus ook daar werkt hij soms beter. Maar hij is ook moeilijker te tunen en hij kan maar 150 watt aan. Dus mijn linear kan ik hier niet bij gebruiken.
Al met al; de MFJ is een mooie antenne om erbij te hebben en heeft zijn voor en nadelen. Maar als ik moet kiezen geef ik toch de voorkeur aan mijn zelfgemaakte draadantennes ! 😉
73 en veel succes met het krijgen van je licentie!
Dank je wel 73’s
Hallo Cees,
What’s going on with HAM antennas in the Netherlands? I mean are there any limitations on installing them on the roof? Is is allowed to put a big mast near the house? I’m going to move to the Netherlands in a few months and get a callsign. Thanks
Hi Victor,
In the Netherlands all radio amateurs have the right to put up an antenna that’s max 5 meters high, starting from the lowest part of the roof.
So for instance; If the roof starts 5 meters from the ground your max antenna height is 10 meters if you install the antenna on the ground.
Anything else needs a permit. I guess it’s like anywhere else; if the neighbors are not complaining you can more or less put up any antenna! 😉
But to be sure, if you want to put up any bigger antenna or tower, get a permit.
73, Cees
Thanks, 73!
No problem Victor.
73 de Cees
Hi Cees,
It is not 5m from the lowest point of the roof, Antenna top placement is max 5 m above the point where it meets the edge of the roof.
If placed well, the top of the antenna can be 5m above the highest toppoint of the roof.
If you could attach a mast on the top and/or side of the upper window in the picture, you could go up 5m from there , and maybe even also use it to attach a inverted V from there down to both sides of the house (over the top of a mast.)
See this document:
http://www.antennebureau.nl/sites/default/files/special-pages/infoblad-schotelantennes-ministerie-bzk.pdf
Hi Rick,
Thanks for the info! This could make some difference in my antenna choices in the future. 🙂
I was thinking about your inverted V option also some time ago but because it’s a bit harder to do I didn’t do this (yet). I need to climb on a steep roof which doesn’t give me a warm feeling! 😉
I put up a rotary dipole made from 2 hamsticks, a month or two ago which at least gives me some use of the 40m band. I will post about this the coming days probably.