1 Interesting and Possibly Useful HAM Antenna Info from the Internet (much more out there to be discovered) Sam Stello KK4VR October, 2014 Copied from NØLX website (photo by Eric Sanderson)

2 Please note that I have not tested the following ideas, so don’t consider this presentation as an endorsement. However, I do consider them interesting enough to consider trying many of them myself…. Remember, the Internet is not always a reliable source, and I am not the first to say that! Experiment (and have fun) at your own risk, but let us know what you discover. The following information is extracted from various Internet Websites for personal use only.

3 VERTICALS

4 Lightweight Vertical Antenna and Base 14 foot fishing pole mast (Cabelas) and PVC homebrew base (everything folds to less than 16”)

5 St. Louis Vertical (portable)Base Loaded Multiband Vertical made with 20 ft fishing pole and fed with 300 ohm twinlead The St. Louis Vertical (SLV) offers portable enthusiasts an easy-to-build, easy-to-use antenna which: -Covers 10-40M via a balanced line tuner -Installs independently of external supports (Trees are not required) -Is inexpensive (About $40) -Is lightweight (45 oz. for antenna, mount and radials) -Is really portable (Car, canoe, backpack, bike, etc.) -Installs pronto (5 minutes or so) (Lots of Bands for the Bucks)

6 Vertical Dipole May, by Al Yerger, K2ATY by Martin Hedman We may like the DX performance, cost and the simplicity of a vertical dipole, but the feed point midway up the antenna can sometimes be a physical construction issue.

7 Base Fed Vertical DipoleUse a coax cable as the lower element and feed at the bottom instead of the middle. They are simple to build and they work; I have built several and used them for SOTA. Martin Hedman

8 Homebrew Vertical Dipoles Built Using Whips

9 M3KXZ Portable Double-T Vertical for 20 thru 6mA double-T is a top and bottom capacity hatted vertical dipole. A homebrew double-T is 3 meters tall, with capacity hats 2 meters across. It is fed at the center of the vertical section via a 1:1 current balun. COMMERCIAL PRODUCT: Force 12 produce one for the higher HF bands from 20 thru 10, with remote switchable loading coils in the centre for band selection.

10 Homebrew Asymetric Hatted Vertical Dipole The best performer is a 1/4 wavelength monopole with four 1/8 wavelength radials. NOTE D: The quarter wave monopole with quarter wave radials is a form of hatted dipole.

11 Mobile Vertical DipoleThis is a 3-band ZR antenna. “ZR” for Z-axis Radiator. It covers all of 20, 15 and 10 meters and is a full size vertical dipole. Source: Array of Light Third Edition, 2010

12 N0LX/P using a Petlowany Coil as a Ground Plane Using a 9" spiral coil as a complete ground system on 20 and 40 meters A 9" spiral coil is a complete ground system on 20 and 40 meters

13 Petlowany Antenna http://www.n0lx.com/petlowany.htmlVery short dipole with spiral-wound coils at each end and no radials Antenna efficiency cannot match a full size antenna, but the size and simplicity is appealing …. A 40-meter version is only 12 feet long Petlowany Antennas by K6NO

14 Petlowany 3 Band Vertical Antenna simple, low-cost, trapless short vertical antenna which amazingly works on three HF bands (20, 15 and 10 meters) It's a quarter wave ground plane with 4 radials cut for 15 meters. The spiral coil "hat" on top makes the antenna resonant on 20 and 10 meters as well.

15 An alternative to the Petlowany coil….20 meter spiral Foil is 3/16" self-adhesive copper purchased at Hobby Lobby for $4.99

16 SALTWATER ANTENNA EXPERIMENTS The antenna is a 10-foot length of PVC tubing, capped at both ends, and filled with supersaturated saltwater. At the bottom is a stainless steel bolt glued into the end cap that acts as a probe into the liquid.

17 Pedestrian Mobile

18 HFpack Annual Eyeball QSO Rally at Dayton Example Antenna

19 Home Brew Portable Manpack by M0LMK

20 BALLOON MOBILE

21 Pedestrian Mobile with 20-foot Antenna http://www. n0lx. com/tallpack

22 HF MARINE MOBILE

23 HF Bicycle Mobile 13.5 ft antenna

24 “BUDDIPOLES” and “BUDDIE STICKS” “BUDDIPOLES” and “BUDDIE STICKS” Home Brew and Commercial

25 Portable Dipoles and Radiators There are other similar products available and homebrew info

26 The homebrew Buddipole Buddistick sitehttps://sites.google.com/site/w3ffhomepage/

27 WIRE ANTENNAS

28 Yo-Yo-Vee Portable Antenna (Dipole) Adjust SWR and Bands by winding / unwinding the reels Other Homebrew antennas use measuring tape as the elements

29 Using Toroids to make Traps Jake, NØLX 20-foot half wave 20 mtr vertical using traps built from two T50-2 cores glued together and wound 25 turns of #24 ga. enamel wire

30 SOTA Antennas http://www. sotabeams. coSOTA Antennas Small Lightweight Antennas, Accessories and Novel Apps 100 Watt Mini Trap Antenna Lifting Kite Compact 30 ft mast 4 Band Portable Dipole Antenna, mtrs 10-40 mtr end fed tuner

31 Not-So “Random” Wire Lengths (End Fed)Following materials copied from Hamuniverse.com for personal use only

32 PROBLEM STATEMENT: An End Fed Wire antenna’s feed point impedance is determined by the length of the wire and the radio’s operating frequency. With operating frequency changes, the antenna impedance can vary widely. It can quickly exceed the capacity of most radios and antenna tuners. If it is desired to operate an end fed on multiple bands with a reasonable SWR at our favorite operating bands, what is the best wire length’s to use? The "Best" Random Wire Antenna Lengths Random wire lengths you should and should not use! Jack, VE3EED - SK Jack, VE3EED’s numbers that would be good for a long-wire antenna:

33 BEST END FED WIRE LENGTHS A standard recommendation (see QST, March 1936, p. 32, "An Unorthodox Antenna") is an 84' long end fed and a 17' long counterpoise (6.5' for 20m). VISUAL CHART FOR RANDOM WIRE LENGTHS TO AVOID (40 thru 15 Mtrs)

34 End Fed Halfwave Antenna And Matching Unit for 20-30-40 meters Matching Unit An interesting article on end fed half wave wire antennas:

35 14-foot end-fed halfwave antenna for 10-20 meters a 5-band compact antenna

36 NorCal Doublet Antenna by Doug Hendricks, KI6DSNorCal QRP Club 50 feet of 4 stranded computer cable 1 #0 Fishing Swivel 1 Cable tie 2 pieces of fishing cord

37 Dipole                                                              Feedline

38 Portable End Fed Zepp http://www.wa0itp.com/pefz.html(Zepp antenna design by WAØITP) A true End Fed Zepp is a half wave radiator and a quarter wave balanced feedline Following materials copied from Hamuniverse.com for personal use only

39 Zepp antenna design by WAØITPI call my 40M version the 5 minute-5 dollar antenna because I make it from a $5 -50 foot roll of Radio Shack speaker wire, and it takes only about 5 minutes to make. Here’s the quick steps, 5 minutes total time - guaranteed… Unroll it 2. Split it back halfway 3. Cut off one side 4. Tie a loop on the end of the single wire 5. Strip and tin the ends of the feedline 25 ft radiator 25 ft twin feedline feed point

40 W1GFH $4 SPECIAL http://www. hamuniverse. com/fourdollarspecialw1gfh

41 Cloud Warmer Antenna 40m Mastless NVIS AntennaA Cleverly Constructed Cloud Warmer Antenna 40m Mastless NVIS Antenna This uses a ladder line in a folded dipole configuration with one additional reflector wire. The reflector wire improves the signal by about 3 dB over a single wire antenna. No mast in this context means no structure taller than a person. NVIS, or Near Vertical Incidence Skywave, refers to a radio propagation mode which involves the use of antennas with a very high radiation angle, approaching or reaching 90 degrees (straight up), along with selection of an appropriate frequency below the critical frequency, to establish reliable communications over a radius of miles or so, give or take 100 miles.

42 Folded-Driver Reflector 7050 kHz 68.1 Ft. 5.5 Ft. 67.6 Ft. 0.7 Ft.40m Mastless NVIS Antenna Antenna Stakes made from Electric Fence Posts Folded-Driver Reflector Length Height Length Height 7050 kHz 68.1 Ft. 5.5 Ft. 67.6 Ft. 0.7 Ft. 7150 kHz 67.1 Ft. 5.5 Ft. 66.7 Ft. 0.7 Ft. 7250 kHz 66.2 Ft. 5.5 Ft. 65.7 Ft. 0.7 Ft.

43 Parasitic Vertical Arrays

44 6Y2A Antenna Experiments with Parasitic Vertical Arrays(Using Multiple Types of Vertical Wire Antennas)

45 Timothy Hulik, W9QQ described a two element vertical parasitic array for 75 mtrs in QST, December Cost about $50. Also for reference, consider “Adding a Director to a ¼ wave 40M HF vertical antenna” by Jeff Smith, VE1ZAC

46 Vertical Parasitic Arrays Using Bent Elements MOXON ANTENNASClaimed 5.5dB Gain; 25 dB F/B The following material copies from and Material copied for personal use only

47 Portable MOXON using 20 ft fishing poles Reversible MOXON, Permanent QTH Installation

48 Moxon Design by Paul Fletcher, M1PAF This site has design info, performance charts, detailed construction and tuning directions for a Moxon Antenna M3KXZ'S Tri-Band Vertical MOXON Experimental MOXON Antenna Blog Experimental MOXON Antenna Website

49 PHASED VERTICALS

50 PHASED VERTICALS (portable 20 mtr) Two Element Phased Verticals made with 34-foot, 22-ga. Wires which are held aloft by a pair of MFJ fiberglass poles and are separated by 35 feet (one-half wavelength). They are kept vertical by PVC bases. The phasing lines are half-wave RG-8X coax and measure 28 feet, four-and-a-half inches (allowing for velocity factor). They attach to the back of the radio by a coax "tee", and to homebrew matching units at each antenna's base

51 40 Mtr 4 Square Array http://www.yccc.org/Articles/4square.htmlComparison Cushcraft 40-2CD 2L dBd gain, 20 dB max F/B, 24' turning radius, list $625.95, approx $410 street, should be mounted at 60' higher. Tribanders and monobanders such as the HyGain 204BA, 155BA or TH6DXX are all marketed saying dB F/B 4 Square Array, From ARRL Antenna Book: 5.5 dB forward gain over a single similar element, for any value of loss resistence 3 dB or greater forward gain over a 90 degree angle 20 dB or better F/B ratio maintained over a 130 degree angle symmetry that allows directional switching in 90 degree increments

52 15 Mtr Four Square Beam Garth Swanson, G3NPC [email protected]

53 4 Square Array Comments 1. Building a 4 element array radial system for ¼ wave verticals looks like a big task. There is no reason why other types of antennas cannot be used, such as J Poles or Vertical Dipoles. 2. Normally coax cables are used to provide element phasing. To steer the array, relays are used to switch the phase shifters to different antennas. Typically this provides 4 direction steering, which is enough since the antenna patterns are typically larger than 90 degrees. The relay controller can be purchased commercially, just like the antennas. 3. Due to the frequency dependant phasing, these designs are usually single band. 4. There are alternative antenna approaches by using a single support pole and four wire slopers. I do not know how the performance compares to a 4 Square Array. 5. There are designs for electronically generated phase shifting, which would make tuning the array easier and would provide continuous array steering.

54 20’ FISHING POLES SUITABLE FOR ANTENNAShttps://www.bnmpoles.com/c-14-telescopic-poles.aspx Post Office Box 231, West Point MS 39773 Toll Free: Voice: Fax: Office Hours: 7am - 5pm CST

55 HOMEBREW ANTENNA PROJECT INFO and THEORY by AC6VLINKS to HOMEBREW ANTENNA PROJECT INFO and THEORY by AC6V NØLX Well documented HAM Antenna experiments, actually built and tested

56 PG1N Maarten Ouwehand WebsiteHam projects, Antennas, Commercial, Electronics, Shack Equipment, etc. HAM Antenna Library Loads of antennas! Home Brew Antenna Links

57 ARRL DX Zone: Field Day Antenna Designs Vertical Antenna Calculator