Turn Your Patio Umbrella Into a 20-Meter Antenna: Step-by-Step

Greg Glenn, WB6MPH, and I had a QSO during my recent participation in the Maine QSO Party. I soon found out that he had been operating from his backyard in Southern California with an Xiegu 90 and his 20-meter home brew UMBRELLA antenna. Greg walked me through the the step-by-step process of building his 20-meter patio antenna with parts he found in his garage. Watch this short video f you're looking to disguise an antenna from your neighbors.

 

My Uncle lives in an HOA and is a licensed Ham, He managed to get me to go get my ticket and now i'm all set up for HF this would be a great antenna idea for him!! (Don't know if it would work for a 5,000 Km contact but who knows) Thanks for the video.
73s VE7VCK

 

Now do a Discone next!
But in all seriousness, I'm the club president for K5LBJ and I'm always on the lookout for interesting and unique antenna designs for my club members, many of whom don't have a lot of space in their backyard, to implement into their farms-to-be!

 

Perhaps this could be named the G.A.M.P. (Great Antenna for sMall Places) or the S.H.A.D.E. (Stealth HF Antenna for limiteD spacEs)?

 

So, a base loaded whip using an umbrella for the mast/'radials'?

 

Looks like it. I think it's an excellent home brew solution for the HOA crowd or someone with an antenna averse spouse.

Might link this story to the antenna sub, for reference ease in the future.

 

How about an upside down Hex Beam with some shade cloth on it. It would make a big umbrella for shade and be a rotatable multi-band antenna. This also reminds me a little of how people used to skirt the HOA's by hiding their C band TVRO satellite dish antennas by disguising them as patio umbrellas.

 

I like it. Thanks for sharing

 

GREAT...but the XYL is gonna be ticked BIG TIME!

 

just wait until I show my Wife this...
we have 2 of these antenna bases and I have several hamsticks
how about a phased array

Seriously a great idea for pota or camping, gives you shade as well as an antenna

I saved a busted umbrella .. the wind tore up the cloth but left the rest in tact
I turned it upside down and use it as a portable base for my collapsable whip
added some radials and the thing works from 6M to 40M with 6 support legs
too bad they arent plastic arms or some clever ham would make a hex beam for higher freqs

 

just showed my Sweetie this and she loves it!!!
we use 2 of these on our pool deck

 

My contact with W1DED was 4,262 Km and with just 17 Watts. I suspect this antenna could handle 250 Watts, so should be no problem.

 

My antenna has aluminum ribs, so I used them as part of the ground component. It also helped lower the required height of the whip down to around 15 feet from 17 feet. My Xiegu G-90 tunes the umbrella on 40 and 15 with no problem. I just adjust the whip length and coil jumper position for 40m. I imagine it does 6m, 10m, 12 and 17m as well. I just haven't tested it yet on those bands.

For the Hex Beam idea, which I like a lot, one could probably find a cafe umbrella with wood ribs, or better yet, bamboo ribs.
OK, we're off to a good start! I found one on Ebay with a 10 ft diameter. Someone please make a Hex Beam out of this umbrella! I couldn't post the link (I got an error message).
Then tell us how you did it and how well it works!!!!!

Another way to go if you are handy with the sewing machine is to just buy a Hex Beam, for example the MFJ-1848.
Then, flip it upside down and cover it with Sunbrella material to hide all the wires!
It's supposed to be about 35 ft off the ground for maximum gain, but maybe it can be adjusted for 1/4 that height.

 

Yes. Elevated radials that should ideally be about no fewer than four (plenty with the umbrella arms), typically angled downwards (adjustable angle/impedance with the umbrella crank) and 1/4 wavelength long for 20M or about 16 feet-the umbrella comes up short here-hence the additional elevated radials were added. Another option would have been to base load the umbrella mast, radiate the mast, and to use the umbrella for the capacity hat. It would have required a radial field on the ground to be efficient, however, you wouldn't need the whip or additional elevated radials.

 

That was my initial thought when I read the headline>> Load the whole umbrella (vert+tophat) and add a few radials.. Nice work WB6MPH. 73, Eric