What was your *very* first antenna starting out?

[VK4KL]

Started out with a dipole for 80m and 15m and a 1/4 wave vertical on 10. Then obtained a 5 band vertical that was well used and the trap insulaters so worn the antenna made a gentle arc of about 5 feet BEFORE the wind blew

Adrian

[KJ6VCN]

As a new ham, I am still using my first antenna. All of the equipment is borrowed from my neighbor ham (I'm saving up for my own, though).

The antenna is a 20 meter dipole run on a slant from the roof down the canyon. It is probably about a meter off the ground on average. I like to joke that it would be more effective if I had run the thing underground. I'm planning on moving it tomorrow for a little more elevation.

[KL2TC]

Mike said: Before we knew any better, a random-length end-fed wire, using the house wiring as the "ground".

That is exactly what I used to do. That was my first antenna. I thought that I was doing ground-breaking research.

seven three

Al
KL2TC

[N4UM]

My first antenna was a three wire center fed "flat top" dipole for 80 meters fed with #12 wire 600 ohm open wire line using 6" ceramic spacers. It weighed a ton! The thing was so heavy that a 4 rope block and tackle and a 1954 Oldsmobile were used to hoist the thing up in the air between two Elm trees about 300 feet apart. The flat top was 12 inches across and used 1"x12" oak spacers that had been boiled in parafin. The three wires were joined at the two ends and the middle wire was fed in the center with the open wire line. It was a real kludge to build and get up in the air but it worked very well over the swampy ground where I lived as a teenager.

[K8MHZ]

Wow, this one's old......

Mine wasn't there. A 2 meter mag mount mobile.

[N2EY]

Random wire from the house to the crab apple tree in the back yard. Maybe 70 feet of wire, 25 feet up. Ground to the radiator pipe. Worked OK on 80 CW with my 10 watt oscillator.

73 de Jim N2EY

[W6OGC]

My brother, dad and I ran a 40M dipole from a post on top of the garage to a 2x2 "A" frame out in the side yard, hooked to a DX40 my grandmother bought for me, and the HRO 5 receiver I got conned into buying. It was awfully modest but worked and we were on the air, with 2 crystals for 7157 and 7182 kc. It wasn't long before I passed the General exam and got the matching VFO built, and we found that the antenna worked pretty well on 15M too.

After we put up a 40' tower with Mosley TA-33, my brother discovered the dipole didn't work on 20M, by forgetting to switch to the beam, tuning up on 20M and setting the DX-40 on fire!

[K3ROJ]

A simple 40 meter dipole 33 feet each leg. It gave me 40 and 15 metres which was great.

[KA4EET]

Same as I have now. A dipole. Had two towers and two beams over the past 35 years....nice to get through on Pile-ups. But now mostly rag/fat chewing, so a wet noodle will do. I guess what goes around comes around!

[AB1QX]

GADS--Gutter and downspout.