Updated 3/29/2024.
Designing and constructing antennas has long been a major part of our hobby. An effective antenna system is a key requirement for a station that produces contacts! A good system will do much more for you than just adding more transmitter power…if you can’t hear them you can’t work them.
Remember that a 3 db gain equals doubling your transmitter’s power and also increases the received signal. A 3 db gain is not too hard to achieve – see the hundreds of designs available through this page.
Even though an antenna loads well, it might or might not radiate well or it might radiate in the wrong direction. With a suitable matching network, we can load our transmitter into a galvanized metal trash can but it won’t radiate very well. So look at some of the designs provided on this page.
This page is not for those who want to invest in a tower and a multi-band beam antenna. It’s more for those who like cheap but effective wire antennas. The links provide helpful information about such antennas, including vertical antennas, wire radials (ground systems) and the feeding of wire antennas.
Be sure to read this website’s pages about Ladder Line and Antenna/Downlead lengths, as well as Antenna Tuners and the SWR pages.
Hundreds of antenna links exist on the internet. A Google search will reveal them…you can spend hours researching. Checking out all the links or documents on this page can last you all winter!
Nothing can compete with L.B. Cebik’s (W4RNL, SK) extensive work on antennas, Jerry Sevick’s (W2FMI, SK) articles on shortened verticals, ground systems (radials), and baluns/ununs; and Rudy Soverns’ (N6LF) articles about ground systems.
There are many websites full of interesting antenna information. One is Ham Universe which has a lot of information about wire antenna lengths and more.
G4ILO’s Stealth Antenna website is a good, informative read, if you live in a situation where outside antennas are prohibited or difficult to erect.
The 1974 ARRL Antenna Book can be found here (.pdf version)
The ARRL “Basic Antennas” book can be read here (.pdf)
The ARRL Antenna Compendium, volumes 1, 2 and 3 can be found here on the Internet Archive.
ARRL’s “More Wire Antenna Classics” is an excellent choice for wire antenna afficionados.
K8CH has written chapter 20 of the ARRL handbook, which is all about antennas. It’s an easy read, not too technical and extremely informative.
ARRL’s “Wire Antennas for the Beginner” book might be of interest to those just beginning in the hobby.
A huge compendium of wire antenna information can be found in the book by Edward Noll, W3FQI. I believe this book is now public access and you can read it on line or download it from this link: 73 Dipole and Long-wire Antennas
The Vee Beam antenna is simple to erect, presents a reasonable SWR to a tuner or transmitter and has some directivity and reasonable gain. Requiring only one support, it can provide an almost fool-proof, simple and cheap antenna that can deliver good results over a wide range of frequencies.
How should I orient my antenna? Erecting an antenna that “focuses” on a particular direction requires knowing what compass heading to point at. Fortunately, VU2NSB makes this easy. Just plug in a properly formatted Maidenhead Grid number and up will pop all the compass headings you might want.
Want to erect a “long wire” antenna? VE3EEK (SK) did a lot of research into suitable lengths and this Ham Universe link will reveal them and a lot more information. The recommended lengths (in feet) are: 29 35.5 41 58 71 84 107 119 148 203 347 407 423
Don’t forget a counterpoise!
Here is a paper by Cebik (W4RNL, SK), about Inverted Vee antennas (.pdf download). Important to note is his research into the apex angle and how this angle and height above ground affect the takeoff angle and therefore how useful for DX such an antenna is.
Cebik also provides an excellent analysis and design parameters for the all-band Doublet antenna.
ON5AU has provided a Cebik analysis about constructing an all-band Bobtail Curtain that has good gain, directivity, and a low takeoff angle on 40 meters and is also usable on the other HF bands.
Much (perhaps all?) of Cebik’s work has been incorporated into the Antentop web page. Some of his work on ground systems can be found here. This site is worth exploring in detail.
K9YC has a lot of good information about 43 foot verticals and other antenna subjects.
PG1N’s Wire Antenna page provides many examples of simple wire antennas that work well.
YO3DAC’s website contains 418 antenna articles!
W8JI analyzes the performance of Rhombics, Inverted Vees and Vee-beam antennas.
Rudy Soverns, N6LF, has followed and expanded on Jerry Sevick’s extensive research into antenna ground systems (radials). He has written seven research documents on the subject of radials and these are listed below. ARRL has summarized his findings in a QST article and this is listed first, below.
QST Summary of N6LF’s “Ground Systems (radials)” articles
N6LF Ground Systems Paper #1
N6LF Ground Systems Paper #2
N6LF Ground Systems Paper #3
N6LF Ground Systems Paper #4
N6LF Ground Systems Paper #5
N6LF Ground Systems Paper #6
N6LF Ground Systems Paper #7
Interested in 630 meter antennas? N6LF has information for you.
The ARRL has a large selection of articles on vertical antennas. You must be an ARRL member to read these. Click here to view the selections.
A very simple antenna is an L-shaped doublet-type antenna, consisting of a 30-33 foot vertical element and a similar 30-33 foot horizontal element, fed in the center, like a dipole). Get this as high as you can and feed it with 300 or 450 ohm twinlead (don’t use a resonant length!) to a 1:1 current (Guanella) balun at your antenna tuner. No radials are required (it’s a dipole on 40M and a doublet on bands higher than that). This works quite well, used as a multi-band doublet. The exact length depends on whether you want to focus on 40M CW (33 feet) or the upper end of the band for SSB (30-31 feet).
You could also double those lengths, resulting in 67 foot vertical and horizontal elements. Now it’s a dipole on 80 meters and a doublet on the rest of the bands. But it would require a very high tree to hang it from. The bottom horizontal element should be a minimum of 10 feet above ground and higher than that is better.
Remember that when measuring the length of each leg of a wire antenna, measure from the center (“eye”) of the end insulator to the center (“eye”) of the central insulator where the lead-in is attached. Do not include that length of wire which is included to do the wrapping. It is not part of the electrical length of the wire but it is a part of the physical length needed to erect the antenna and attach the insulators.
The only simpler antenna might be a 68-70 foot wire connected to a tuner of some sort. But even this will likely require a counterpoise to keep RF out of the shack.
Be sure to read all the website pages under the “Antennas” menu choice – there is a lot of information and some page subjects overlap a bit with other pages.
Lloyd Butler, VK5BR’s website contains a lot of information about antenna tuners, antennas and just about anything else concerning HF radio – give it a look!
If you like Zip Cord, here is a page about Zip Cord Antennas and Transmission Lines.
2/3/2024: For over ten years I used a multiband inverted Vee (a “doublet”) with 70 foot legs and the apex at about 55 feet in a tall tree. But in January 2024 a storm caused a malicious tree to fall into it which wrecked it.
In February 2024 I replaced it with a “Delta Loop” antenna made of #14 insulated stranded wire, formed into a triangle with the apex at the top, at 50 feet. The total length of the triangle is 144 feet so it’s a full wavelength on 40 meters. The two inclining sides are 46 feet long and the base is 52 feet long so it is not quite equilateral in shape, and the bottom horizontal wire is only about 12 feet above ground, due to some tree and lot limitations. It is not precisely vertical and leans slightly “backwards,” this being the best I could do.
It is fed with 450 ohm twinlead at the lower left intersection of the left and bottom sections. This corner feed is said to produce a lower takeoff angle which is good for DX but I have no way to measure this and since it is fed with twinlead, the actual feedpoint impedance is not of much concern.
Here’s a drawing of it.
W5SDC has an analysis of this type of antenna which will have both vertical and horizontal components to its radiation pattern. An extensive analysis of loop designs can be found here.
The antenna faces about 30 degrees so roughly into northern Europe from its “front” and about 210 degrees to the rear which favors western South America and perhaps Australia by the loooong path. Time will tell where the miscellaneous lobes fall.
After installing it, I fired up the Drake 2A and immediately heard Germany, Belgium, Canada and many USA stations so I know it works! I would not have heard these stations on 40 meters, in the middle of the afternoon, with the old Vee. 20 meters into Europe was populated also.
I notice that this “loop” is a quiet antenna which seems to ignore more manmade noise than the old Vee did.
I haven’t had time to find the proper transmitting settings for my homebrew T-Match tuner (C-L-C) but I am certain settings will be easily found and I’ll do that soon.
I also have a 400 foot on-ground receiving-only loop that is a very quiet antenna and seems to “hear” very well compared to other antennas I’ve used.
I have some wire and ladder line left over and am thinking about installing a simple Vee beam aimed at South America…we’ll see about that.
I will add more to this page as time passes…feel free to contact me with your ideas: fbw4npn@gmail.com