Antenna Topics: A Field Day Dipole. Post #202
One of the simplest and most efficient Field Day antennas is the common half-wavelength flat top dipole or doublet stretched between two trees or portable masts and fed with 50-ohm coaxial cable (RG-58, RG-8, or RG-8X) for single band use or fed with 450--ohm ladder line, a 4:1 balun, and an antenna transmatch ("tuner") for multiband use. I 've used this type of antenna in various configurations, included the inverted vee and the half-wavelength sloper. For single band use, I've also employed 75-ohm RG-6 coaxial cable with "F" to "UHF" connectors. Used with an antenna matchbox, the RG-6 serves as a suitable feed line if 50-ohm cable is unavailable. Placed a height of 30 to 50 feet above ground (9.14 to 15.24 meters), the doublet will give you plenty of local and DX contacts. Just cut your 2 antenna elements to the lowest frequency of use, feed with ladder line into an appropriate balun and antenna matchbox, and you have an antenna capable