Simple Ham Radio Antennas

PURPOSE OF THIS SITE Over the past few days, some of my readers have asked why I put this site together and to whom  the information is directed.  These are fair questions, since my interest in Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) may be far from your concerns. I have two reasons for writing this blog: 1.  The blog serves as a personal journal about my journey through interpersonal communications and my love for all things electronic.  I've been a licensed amateur radio operator for 35 years.  I've enjoyed every moment of the experience, from building equipment to designing my own antennas (the things that launch signals into the atmosphere).  I was fortunate to have had a good electronics background courtesy of the United States Air Force and over 40 years in the commercial broadcast business.  Very early in my radio journey, I helped design and build the student FM radio station at the University of Hawaii (Manoa), worked at various radio stati...

A NEW ANTENNA FOR APARTMENT DWELLERS The July 2012 issue of "QST" contains an interesting antenna article by Jeffery Brone, WB2JNA.  The article entitled "A Dipole Doesn't Have to be Straight--There's always a way to put some kind of antenna into service" runs from page 36 to page 37.  Brone's idea may give you another way to get on the air despite severe space restrictions. Simply put, Brone ran approximately 35 feet of light gauge wire (#22 or #24 AWG) to  a balcony of his third floor apartment and ran another 35 feet around the apartment, "tacked up along the ceiling and corners, resulting in a full size dipole for 40 meters."  He fed the antenna through a MFJ manual tuner with  3 feet of homemade laddder line (2 inch spacing between the wires)  "and it loads up on all bands--40 through 10 meters."  Running low power (15 watts cw), Brone has been able to work Chagos Island, Africa, and South America. Brone says common sense ...