Simple Ham Radio Antennas

A multi-band half-wavelength sloper antenna. This has been another beautiful, slightly windy day on Hawaii Island--a perfect time to build another antenna for DX adventure.  Although I've been happy with my 40 meter vertical with tuned counterpoise, I wanted to experiment a bit with another antenna I used frequently in my novice license days almost four decades ago. I quickly found my antenna experiment log book on the shelf of the radio room and turned to the pages marked "November-December 1977."  Those were some unusually dry months at my old QTH in Honokaa.  I was able to build several working verticals, loops, and slopers for my then new novice station. By feeding the sloper with 450-ohm ladder line and a 4:1 balun, I was able to cover three novice segments  in the 40, 15, and 10 meter amateur radio bands with few problems.  I knew the antenna would work on 20 meters, but I didn't hold a higher license (i.e. general, advanced, or extra class) to  qualify f

KH6JRM's Amateur Radio Antenna Topics: A 20 meter vertical antenna with tuned counterpoise. This weekend has been outstanding on Hawaii Island.  Weather conditions were partly sunny and a bit cooler, thanks to the return of gentle trade winds.  Most of the vog (volcanic smog) has been blown off and most of us can finally breathe normally.  In other words, this was a grand day to build antennas. In my last post, I described a 40 meter vertical with tuned counterpoise that has performed well on the 7 MHz and 21 MHz amateur radio bands (the 15 meter antenna uses the third harmonic of 40 meters and works as a 3/2 wavelength antenna on 15 meters).  Since I built the antenna for the 7.088 MHz Hawaii Afternoon Net, it functions well around 21.264 MHz in the SSB portion of the 15 meter band. Now that I've enjoyed some success with this vertical, I decided to make another vertical antenna with a tuned counterpoise for 20 meters, concentrating on a frequency of 14.200 MHz.  Like

KH6JRM's Amateur Radio Antenna Topics: A simple inverted vee dipole that doesn't require a tuner. Hawaii Island has been enjoying some excellent, if somewhat voggy, weather the past few days--a perfect time to design and build a simple antenna for my favorite amateur radio bands.  Although I enjoy working 10 and 20 meters, I've found plenty of contacts and even some decent DX on the 40 and 15 meter bands.  During the day, there are plenty of Hawaii hams to chat with on a variety of nets.  Early afternoon chats on 15 meters range from locals to the exotic realms of the southwest Pacific and Japan.  If I decide to work 10 or 20 meters on a whim, I can always switch to my 40 meter vertical with tuned counterpoise to capture a few elusive contacts on 10 meters.  This antenna uses tuned feeders (450-ohm ladder line) and can work amateurs from 40 through 10 meters with the help of a 4:1 balun and a good transmatch, such as my Drake MN-4. However, this week, I've had th

KH6JRM's Amateur Radio Antenna Topics: A tuned counterpoise antenna for 40-10 meters In my last post, I related the experience of making a segmented inverted v dipole antenna covering the 20, 15, and 10 meter bands.  The antenna required some adjustment, particularly in the 20 meter segment, which was cut a bit short.  With all the segments connected together with alligator clip leads, I found the 20 meter section approximately 5 inches (12.7 cm) short on each side.  With the addition of some extra wire, the 20 meter section tuned up nicely on 14.200 Mhz.  It pays to cut your antenna elements a few inches (several centimeters) longer than expected. After using the segmented v for a few hours, I lowered the mast and stored the antenna segments in some plastic storage bins near the radio room.  I can reassemble this antenna again if the need arises. A NEW ANTENNA Since my backyard is rather small, I prefer verticals, inverted vees, and loops for most of my HF work.  The on

KH6JRM's Amateur Radio Antenna Topics: A 20, 15, and 10 meter segmented inverted vee dipole. In my last post, I described a 40/15 meter inverted vee dipole using aligator clip leads and short pieces of wire to improve the SWR on 15 meters.  The short additional length of wire on each end of the inverted vee lowered the SWR for 15 meters and provided a slightly better match for the RG-8X coax used as the feed line.  When I wanted to use 40 meters, I just unclipped the short lead.  By selecting the correct length of wire for each band and using the clip leads to add or subtract a small amount of wire length, I was able to use this antenna without an antenna match or tuner. This past weekend, I was able to modify this idea to get an inverted vee that would cover 20, 15, and 10 meters without a tuner.  As in the case with the 40/15 meter inverted vee, I incorporated some ideas from Edward M. Noll (W3FQJ) and Larry Barry (NV5I) to make a homebrew tri-bander inverted vee that has