Simple Ham Radio Antennas. The Open-Wire Dipole (Doublet). Post #293
I'm still in the process of restoring my "antenna farm" after the passing of Tropical Storm Iselle on 07-08 August 2014. I lost a few trees on my Orchidland Estates property, most of which were supporting several HF wire antennas. I salvaged most of the wire and the 450 ohm feedline from the storm. While I cleaned up the mess, I erected a simple multiband vertical antenna using a tall Norfolk Pine Tree as an antenna support. Next on the list is the restoration of my approximately 134-ft/40.85 meters center-fed horizontal dipole. The antenna is fed with 450 ohm ladder line which goes into a W9INN 4:1 balun and then via a short length of RG-8X coax into a MFJ 941E Versa Tuner II. This feed arrangement allows multiband coverage from 3.500 MHz through 29.000 MHz. Although the antenna requires two tall supports (trees or masts), construction of the antenna is simple and the dipole doesn't require a ground radial system. Using the general form...