Your antenna is probably the most important part of your rig. A ten-thousand dollar radio with an eight hundred dollar mic won't get you anywhere attached to a crappy antenna. Generally speaking the best way to improve your performance is to improve your antenna. This is true for all radios from your handie-talkie to your HF rig. If you want to get the most out of your radio a good antenna is a must.
Hand-held radios are generally the new hams first purchase. They are the least expensive and they're very convenient. The trade off for portability and compact size is that five watts is about all you are going to get out of most. A base station uhf/vhf is going to require an antenna in the air and an HF rig is going to require an even bigger (read expensive) antenna.
Enter the wonderful world of home brew antennas. With basic soldering skills, an swr meter, and a little wire; you can build an antenna for your transceiver for very little money. When I first upgraded from Technician my buddy (KD5MZE) and I both bought 10 meter radios from Radio Shack and home brewed a couple of 10 meter dipole antennas. The satisfaction of building our own antennas was well worth the five bucks or so we spent building them. We talked all over the world on those antennas and I still have mine stashed away somewhere. You can get very creative with insulating material and the wire you use. Often you can find items around the house that you can use. Yeah, gazillion dollar beams will perform better and you may not win any contests; there is still a lot of operating fun to be had with home brew antenna and a few watts. There is tons of info on the internet on building antennas and I have no designs that you can't find with a casual search for home brew antennas. It is easy to find a design to fit your need. While you may never reach a point where you are comfortable building a radio or working on them, home brew antenna's are a great way to get your feet wet building something on your own. Did I mention how little they cost? :-) 73
About Me
- WO9H
- I am a ham radio operator, father, husband, Christian, musician, avid reader, Texan, philosopher, and chronic hamburger fiend. After spending several years exploring the different avenues of Ham Radio I decided to share my ideas, experiments, and activities with my fellow "technically challenged" hams as I humbly present to you: "Ham Radio For the Rest of Us". I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.
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