Simple Ham Radio Antennas

  Before you put away that bunch of tangled up Christmas Tree Lights, why not convert the wire to an easily-made 20 meter dipole antenna? Chase (KI5IRE) shows us how his holiday light display became a fully functional, if unusual, backyard antenna. If you can't see the video, please insert this title URL into your browser search box:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp9tYhhCkRw. Here are some comments from Chase (KI5IRE): Do mini Christmas light strands make a good HF antenna? Will they light up when you transmit? In this video, I built a 20m Christmas light dipole antenna using a strand of incandescent Christmas lights and then strung it up in my backyard and tested it on my Yaesu FT-891. I was a bit shocked by the performance! ⬇️You can build your own 20m Christmas Light Dipole with these items⬇️ PL-259 Connectors: https://amzn.to/479HgUw Terminal Rings: https://amzn.to/3tltVKM Incandescent Christmas Lights: https://amzn.to/3RKP2P1 Plastic Cutting Board: https://amzn.to/46

If you can't see the video, please insert this title URL into your browser search box: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm2Anc96Dqo&ab_channel=2E0EZTamateurradio This is post 2399 in a continuing series of simple ham radio antennas. Thanks to Carl (2E0EZT) for this excellent, oft times humorous look at making a basic, inexpensive 20 meter vertical antenna.  The antenna is good for both home and field use. Here are some of Carl's observations: A quick video following a conversation with a fellow operator about working lightweight SOTA or similar. I own an MP1 SuperAntenna but felt that making a simple wire antenna and a small flag pole could get you onto the lower bands (20m) quite easily and lightweight. I made this antenna during a break while working at home, it tested fine on the analyser and worked very well during a quick deployment at some high ground near home. PLEASE NOTE: the fold over wire (about 90cm) should be kept away from the rest of the wire antenna runni