Folded Dipole Fed With TV Cable. Post 1749.

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Here's a quick and easy Folded Dipole Antenna made from locally available materials.  According to Stan Gibilisco (W1GV), all you need is a half wavelength of TV Ribbon (300 ohms) or Ladder Line (450 ohms), a 4:1 current balun, a length of 75 ohm TV Cable (such as RG-6), some F to SO-239 adapters, and an antenna transmatch (i.e. "tuner") to keep SWR below 1.5 to 1 across the band of choice.  Stan says the slight mismatch between 50 ohm and 75 ohm cables can be handled by most modern transceivers without much loss of power. That mismatch is in the neighborhood of 1.5 to 1 without a "tuner".  With Folded Dipole Antennas, I've always used a "tuner" to be on the safe side.

So, if you have some TV Ribbon and a length of RG-6 TV cable in your junk box, why not build a folded dipole antenna?  With a little luck, you can build a broad-banded HF antenna at almost no cost.

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http://www.arrl.org/arrl-audio-news (a weekly podcast which is updated each Friday afternoon).
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Thanks for joining us today.

Aloha es 73 de Russ (KH6JRM).