Simple Ham Radio Antennas--Building Ladder Line by N4LQ. Post #424.

Nice, simple tutorial from Steve Ellington (N4LQ) on how to build and install spreader insulators for ladder line. Choose your own spacing. Wire ties should be at lease twice the length of the spacer. If UV damage is a concern, spray the assembly with Krylon UV paint. Although the construction of homemade ladder line is a bit tedious, the reward is having a feed line that can transform a single band dipole into a multiband antenna. With the ladder line connected to a 4:1 balun and then attached to your rig with a short length of RG-8 coaxial cable, you will have an antenna that can cover several HF bands. At my QTH, I have a 40 meter inverted V antenna that covers 7.000 MHz through 29.990 MHz by using homemade ladder line, a 4:1 W9INN balun, and my trusty Drake MN-4 antenna transmatch. You can also buy 450 ohm ladder line through the various Amateur Radio store outlets, but it's more fun "to roll your own." My ladder line is made from #12 AWG house wire, old plastic tubes from ballpoint pens, and black nylon ties. Good luck! For the latest Amateur Radio news and events, please check out the blog sidebars. These news feeds are updated daily. For the latest news about the Nepal earthquake and the role Amateur Radio is playing in that country's recovery, please go to the "Southgate Amateur Radio Club" website. For more Amateur Radio news, you can also visit my news sites: http://kh6jrm.net and http://paper.li/kh6jrm/1430289353. You can follow our blog community with a free e-mail subscription or by tapping into the blog RSS feed. Thanks for joining us today! Aloha es 73 de Russ (KH6JRM).