Antennas for the CC&R crowd...

the Isotron antenna--now don't tell me that you haven't seen the ad...you know for the "bird cage" a.k.a. the "Isotron" antenna...now there are forums for antennas, BUT before you 'flame' me...I am not suprised that "little" antennas don't work as well as big ones--that's not what I am wanting to explore-I am already pretty convinced of that--who isn't? But what I want to know is: Have you ever used one, and DOES IT WORK?
you know, that antenna looks like a bird cage..maybe it would fit real good INSIDE a REAL bird house...you could paint little black circles where real birds would dwell, if this was a real bird house, that is! We wouldn't want to cook the little critters, so I would cover up all of the holes in it, and paint the 'holes' black. In a "martin" house, one of those really big two-story bird houses, maybe you could fit a few of these isotrons inside there...just a thought as who is going to suspect a bird house as a hidden antenna site? a coax could run inside the "post", maybe a vertical element for another antenna as well, and why not bury a few ground radials around it? The "bird house" might make a really nice weatherproof enclosure at that!Or how about those "bug zappers", the ones with a blue light and a big cord that goes to them...maybe you could fashion the outside of one with a black plastic insulating lattice work, and hide an isotron in there! it would look like a "real" bug zapper, well exceipt for not having the "blue" light, anyway! An all plastic, blue spruce, "christmas" tree might make a nice place to hide a vertical, or how about TWO of them nicely spaced, with a "half square" for 15 Metres, turned 'upside down', i.e. the phasing line upside down, fed at the bottom and well covered with a little mulch? I figure that two "trees" at opposite ends of a 'ranch' style house would about do it...a single 'tree' could at least be used to put up a little thin wire that would be hard to see. have a shed out back? why not "Wire" it with 110 volt overhead wiring? so what if you used it for an antenna instead? Maybe you just have a light bulb that just seems to be perpetually burned out in the shed...these things 'happen', especially when they are not 'real'to begin with! hihi! sure the 'half square' will be 'lossy' fed up upside down..maybe you could lead off of the vertical elements and run the phasing line under the plastic siding? I would want to use some sort of plastic conduit, though for safety. They way I figure is this, if you can avoid your QTH from burning down from your stealth antenna, and not cook the kids, the neighbors, (or the birds), minimize TVI with good old QRP as well, and make QSO's, then you are an ACCOMPLISHED ham. maybe we should have a "stealth" operators award rght up there with WAS and WAC? smaller PVC could be placed inside of the new plastic down spouts..there could be the vertical elements, and the phasing line could run inside of the plastic eaves trough...the lead in would have to be fashioned through the soffit--don't skimp here use real lead-through insulators, unless you want to "burn the house down" (Literally!) with your QSO's...I have palced this here as a 'challenge" as well as an inquiry into this nasty CC&R business. Now I think that if you helically-wind the "christmas bulb" wire ON the stealth antenna tree, well THAT might look a little too suspicious! So..leave a message in the forum here..you will help many a ham get back on the air from the condo, the apartment, the trailer park...you won't be a "big-gun", but what is the saying? "No used in lighting a candle to curse the darkness?" You have to fight for your right to party! Don't let these self appointed "Condo Commisars" make YOU an SK until you take your last breath, and may that be into a microphone, hopefully during a really good QSO at that!