Homebrew Norcal Doublet

I normally bring my coax through this window, but the winter months have made it a little more difficult. Now I know I should just break down and drill a hole and bring the coax into the house. I am waiting until we build an addition on the house, when I can build in a little closet to be my shack. Until that time I have opened the window. Some nights it is so cold I have to borrow my wife's hair dryer to thaw the window.

After a little research I decided to spend about $2.00 for a "winter" antenna. I reseached the Norcal Doublet and made one using speaker wire. As you can see from the picture below it goes right through the closed window without any problem. I can use it QRP or QRO. It is not a perfect antenna but allows me to get on the air during those frigid nights when the window won't budge.

Another added bonus is that this is a very stealth antenna. It doesn't perform as well a fullsize dipole, but on its first two QSO's I got MO and MN from Utah on 40 Meters in the middle of a winter day! Not a bad start for a $2 antenna!