Simple Ham Radio Antennas

Most of my HF antennas are fed with 450 ohm ladder line going into a 4:1 balun and then continuing on to my Drake MN-4 antenna transmatch with  a short length of RG-8 coaxial cable. Although I have an excellent 4:1 balun in the shack (a W9INN 4:1 balun), I felt the need to have a spare just in case my primary balun fails to work. This article by the Wiltshire Man fills that need. I spent a leisurely hour or so in the shack assembling this simple device. I'm not a mechanical genius, so I just took my time watching the video and putting the unit together. Once I finished this project, I tested it with my 80 meter inverted vee. I was running slightly below 50 watts output from my Ten-Tec Argosy II transceiver and experienced no overheating in the balun, which was connected between the 450 ohm ladder line and the Drake transmatch. The balun worked without any problems on 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters. Following the test, I removed the homebrewed balun and put it in my "go ...

Sometimes, simple is best. In the case of amateur radio antennas , an easily constructed dipole or inverted v antenna will get you on the air quickly at minimal cost. Dave Turlock 's video is a basic, well-explained tutorial on how dipoles and inverted v antennas work. Dave covers construction techniques, mounting of the antenna, and tuning of this simple, yet effective antenna. For monoband use, use a good grade of 50 ohm coaxial cable for your feedline. If you wish multi-band capability, use 300 ohm TV twin lead or 450 ohm ladder line for the feedline. This type of feeder must be used with a balanced antenna tuner or fed into a 4:1 balun and then connected to your antenna transmatch ("tuner") with a short piece of 50 ohm coaxial cable. Either way, your new dipole should be mounted as high as you can without endangering your safety. My last inverted v was designed for 40 through 10 meters by cutting the radiating segments to my lowest preferred frequency (7....

I found this fascinating article by SV1CDY while I was searching for some multi-band loop antennas . I've used full-wave loops in the past and found them to be easy to build, portable, and cheap. I duplicated SV1CDY's design without resorting to the 56.7 uH coil, since I had enough space in my backyard for a full wavelength loop cut for 40 meters (7.088 MHz ). Like SV1CDY, I used some #18 AWG speaker wire for the feedline and connected that line to a W9INN 4:1 balun and then, using a short piece of RG-8X coaxial cable with UHF connectors, I attached that assembly to my Drake MN-4 antenna transmatch. For my version of SV1CDY's short loop, I used #12 AWG house wiring for the loop, three ceramic insulators to support the loop, a 33-foot/10.06 meters MFJ telescoping fiberglass mast, some prepositioned wooden stakes and nylon rope to tie off the bottom of the delta loop, and a 6-foot/1.82 meters wooden stake to keep the feedline off the ground until it reached the 4:1 b...

.If you need an emergency or portable antenna for 20 meters, then this video by Dave (W0ZF) will get you on the air quickly and inexpensively. The only materials I had to buy were some nylon rope and a telescoping fiberglass fishing pole from the Hilo " Sports Authority " outlet. The pole cost me $30.00. I followed Dave's instructions and soon had a light weight portable antenna that performed well in a local beach park I used for testing. The vertical element should be a quarter wavelength for the 20 meter frequency of your choice. I chose 14.200 MHz and cut my vertical element and my radial wires to a length of 16.47 feet (16 feet, 5.6 inches)/5.02 meters. My coaxial feedline was 50 feet/15.24 meters of RG-8X coaxial cable with UHF connectors. I used a spare Budwig Hi-Que center coax connector to attach the antenna elements, with the + side connected to the vertical element and the - side connected to the ground radial system. My antenna wire and radials wer...

This is what I call a "quick and dirty" dipole antenna suitable for field expedient use or for portable operation. This video by Ten-Tec's Scott Robbins (W4PA) has received a bit of criticism, but its basic premise is excellent: "Cut, solder, and tie off." Since I'm a bit slow in the soldering department (far sightedness doesn't help much in close work...I had to use my bifocals on this project), I just took my time and built Scott's basic model in about a half-hour. I cut the antenna for the mid-point of the 40 meter band (7.150 MHz ) and used some extra RG-8X coax as the feedline. Fortunately, I had two well-placed Norfolk Pine Trees on my property and was able to get the dipole about 40 ft/12.19 meters above ground. I made a choke balun out of the last few feet of the coax nearest the antenna elements to keep stay rf off the coax shield. Without my trusty Drake MN-4 transmatch in the line, I got an initial SWR of 1.6:1. The "t...

Do you want an efficient multi-band HF antenna that occupies a small space and requires the minimum of construction and maintenance? Then, this video from Larry, the " Radio Ham Guy" is for you. Most of the materials will be found in your ham shack , garage storage room, or at the nearest home improvement or hardware store. This version of the popular "fan dipole" requires only one 50 ohm coaxial cable feed line, a center coax connector, a few end insulators, a tall support and a few tie off points above ground to work. Using the familiar dipole formula (468/f( MHz )=L(ft), you cut separate dipoles for each band of use, connect them to a common center connector, and "fan out" the various elements to nearby support masts, trees, or any other tall object. With careful trimming (beginning with the lowest frequency band of your choice), you can probably get a low SWR for each amateur radio band you chose. I always use an antenna transmatch (i.e. ...

Another great video tutorial from antenna guru Dave Tadlock. This time, Dave designs, builds, and uses a simple ground plane antenna for 10 meters. Although Dave says his design can be ground mounted, a true ground plane antenna is always elevated to decouple the radials from the actual ground to eliminate ground losses. Dave's instructions are clear, precise, and often humorous. I've built several ground plane antennas following Dave's lead. The hardest of the lot was for 40 meters. In order to get the radial system off the ground, I had to use a slingshot and a length of weighted nylon rope to shoot the vertical element to a branch about 40 ft/12.19 meters above ground. With the bottom of the vertical element at 7 ft/2.13 meters above ground, it was easy to attach four, sloping quarter wave radials to the coax connector and tie them off at pre-positioned stakes. It's a lot easier to build a 10 meter ground plane. If you chose a frequency of 28.400 MHz (in t...