Building a trap dipole antenna for 7 and 14 MHz

Thanks to Australian radio amateur Peter Parker (VK3YE) for this simple, effective way to build a two-band trap dipole antenna (7 MHz and 14 MHz).

If you design the antenna properly, it should give your excellent performance.

If you can't see the video, please insert this title URL into your browser search box:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbEAwAG1KMA

Here are some comments from Peter (VK3YE);

A trap dipole is a good choice if you only want operation on two or three bands and don't want to readjust an antenna coupler to change between them. This video describes a trap dipole for 7 and 14 MHz with emphasis on the 1:1 current balun and 14 MHz trap. Adding 80 metres: Loading coils can be added to provide 3.5 MHz capability with very little extra room required. My loading coils used 85 turns of 2mm (od) thin insulated wire closewound on a 55mm diameter pipe. There will be some interaction between the loading coil and the 7 MHz element. Add extra wire to bring it back into the 7 MHz band. The 3.5 MHz performance won't be as good as a full sized dipole, though some excellent contacts are still possible. The bandwidth will be narrow so I suggest using an antenna coupler at the transceiver end. Further ideas on the loading coil at: http://users.picknowl.com.au/~wavetel... PS: If you liked this video please consider supporting Amateur Radio VK3YE by: * Subscribing on YouTube, * Checking my books page at https://books.vk3ye.com to see if any appeal, * Shopping on Amazon via: https://amzn.to/3iiDQXv , or * Shopping on eBay via: https://ebay.us/i9DuWP (then if you buy something I'll get a small commission at no cost to you)

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