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Showing posts with the label 20 meter band

Simple Ham Radio Antennas: A portable HF vertical antenna for 20 meters. Post #314.

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.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