Simple Ham Radio Antennas: The Ghost of Antennas Past--the simple vertical. Post #269
Over the past few posts, I've been describing some of the antennas I designed, built, and used during my days as a novice amateur radio operator (1977-1978). Most of the working designs were copied into school theme books and saved for future reference. One of my favorite homebrewed antennas was a simple vertical antenna supported by a high tree limb terminating with a slightly angled ground plane consisting of 10 radials. The antenna was designed for 40 meters and worked very well for contacts throughout the Pacific Rim and the mainland United States . Last weekend, I decided to duplicate that antenna with some spare wire, ceramic insulators, coaxial cable , and basic tools. As mentioned earlier, the process of moving to a new home often uncovers items you once thought were lost. Such was the case here when I found several 50-ft /15.24 meters rolls of #14 AWG house wire in the garage. That wire would serve as the vertical element and the rudimentary ground radial sys