Building my own antenna

[W4ZDI]

Originally Posted by AE5JU

Here's a site with plenty of antenna designs to consider:

http://www.hamuniverse.com/antennas.html

And if you have room (which you do) for a 40 meter dipole, in the same space you can put up a "New Carolina Windom":

http://www.hamuniverse.com/k4iwlnewwindom.html

which will get you on more bands with the total length of wire.

Be very careful in selecting a design that the author does does not show his measured SWR and radiation pattern results. They may be one of the untried dreams of the author. I discovered this the hard way.
I agree that the ARRL Antenna Handbook is a great investment and will provide you with a good foundation for your future antennas.
Good Luck,
Pierce W4ZDI

[WD5ABC]

Do you have a good ground at the station and/or room for a radial or 2? If so, go ahead and put up your 40m dipole. To get on 80m, tie the feedpoint together and hook it to your tuner like a longwire or random wire. Now you have a top-loaded vertical which should load on 80m with no problems. Don't forget the good ground and/or a counterpoise or 2 connected to the station ground (to which the tuner's ground lug should be connected) . I do the same thing to get on 160m. I have an 80m dipole fed with twin lead, I tie both side of the twin lead together and feed it from the wire port of my tuner.

You can do the same thing with a loop by tying the feedpoint together and feeding it with the tuner.

Good luck!

Kerry, WD5ABC

[AE5JU]

For Field Day, Special Events, Emergency use:






Frequency SWR

14.000 mhz 1.6
14.100 mhz 1.5
14.200 mhz 1.4
14.300 mhz 1.5
14.350 mhz 1.5

7.000 mhz 2.9
7.100 mhz 2.3
7.150 mhz 1.8
7.200 mhz 1.5
7.250 mhz 1.4
7.300 mhz 1.5

3.900 mhz 2.3
3.910 mhz 1.7
3.920 mhz 1.4
3.925 mhz 1.4
3.930 mhz 1.5
3.935 mhz 1.6
3.943 mhz 2.0

15 meters, 3.5 to 3.0 but easily tuned via tuner.

Recipe:







The 40 meter dipole is wired parallel to the 75/20 meter dipole.




SWR figures are from an analyzer.

Last Thursday evening I checked in on a regional net on 3.908 mhz from that field, using an Icom 718, 100 w SSB, with RBC-6 gel battery set (12 v, 12 AH). Talked to Net Control and Assistant Net Controls from 300 to 400 miles away in different directions. One reported "10 over on your signal". They all told me later that I sounded about the same as I do from my full length 80 m dipole at home.

So, there are some approximate dimensions for an 80 meter dipole for you. It is tuned to the upper end of the band where most of the regional traffic and hurricane nets are. If you want to tune lower in the band, make the ends of the 75 m segment longer. With both ends about 2' longer, resonance was about 3.65 mhz.

[KC0REY]

Originally Posted by KJ4IIF

Dipoles are your main interest, and they work for what they are. Great for local rag chews and nets.

Bovine excretions. I can prove you wrong. I don't know who told you that but you can go tell them what I said.