Simple Ham Radio Antennas

. If you have difficulty viewing this video, please enter this title link in your browser: http://youtu.be/3j3BsYbzwvw. Excellent, basic introduction to the design, construction, and use of the Double Extended Zepp Antenna from Stan Gibilisco (W1GV). This antenna delivers approximately 3dB gain over a dipole antenna at the same height above ground. The antenna works best when it is fed with 450 ohm ladder line or 300 ohm TV twinlead. You will need a balanced antenna transmatch (i.e. "tuner") or a tuner/4:1 balun combination to present the proper impedance to your transceiver. According to Stan, the extended double zepp antenna is "a collinear array of two 5/8 waves in phase." You can design the EDZ antenna for any HF amateur radio band you chose. To determine the proper length of the EDZ, you can use the general formula 585/f(MHz). Divide this by 2 to find the length of each element. You can determine the length in meters by dividing your length by 3.28.

This historical amateur radio antenna is becoming a bit more popular these days because it delivers modest gain over a horizontal dipole (about 3 dB) and is simple to build. This video by Stan Gibilisco covers all of the basics of this antenna and its construction. While it is perhaps best to use two supporting masts for the antenna, it can work reasonably well configured as an inverted vee. According to Stan, the EDZ antenna is basically "a collinear array of two 5/8 waves in phase." So, each antenna element will be a bit longer than the dipole most of us are accustomed to building. Also, the usual dipole formula, 468/f(MHz), doesn't apply here. After consulting several texts and antenna books, I chose to use the formula 585/f(MHz) for my EDZ Antenna. My last EDZ was cut for 20 meters and it worked very well. This time around, my property is a bit larger and I thought a 40 meter EDZ configured as an inverted vee would fit within my property without being seen by