The Homebrew Buddipole (Yet Another Field Ant)

I'm starting to feel like "Everyday is Field Day" in my backyard...and this time it's a homebrew buddipole. I have my niece, Elisa, and her fiancee', John, to thank for starting me on this since they gave me a gift certificate to Elecraft.com. Wasn't sure how best to spend it, but I bought two of the 66" telescoping whips, and 6 coil taps. I probably should have skipped the taps and bought 4 whips so I'd have a couple spares, but oh well. Read more...

The 2m J-Pole Field Antenna

In yet another effort to get on the air while being able to respond the XYL's never-ending request to "Take that f@#%&ing antenna down!", I've finally put together a reasonable solution for 2m... the 300 ohm twin-lead jpole. There are multiple sites that describe this version of the twinlead J-pole Read more...

The W1AB Killer Antenna

I finally got XYL approval to hang some wire up in the woods! But I had to compromise and relocate my shack...

The antenna is W1AB's Killer antenna that is described in his book "Low Profile Amateur Radio". The picture below was taken from the book -- and I followed the design quite closely (not that there's alot to it -- such a simple design for a "killer antenna"). Read more...

The stealth antenna that got me on the air

The 40m attic dipole is the antenna that allowed me to get on-the-air. No restrictive deeds here, just an XYL that doesn't want to see any wires outside and didn't go along with my plans for an 80m dipole accross the back yard -- that would have been a sweet antenna up at 60+ feet. Read more...

The 2m HT dipole antenna

I've lost track of where I read about it, but the idea for a 1/4 wave antenna with a 1/4 wave dangling counterpoise sounded like a good rubber duckie upgrade that would still allow pedestrian use. Another way to describe it would be as a 1/2 wave vertical dipole. Read more...

The AD5X Portable Vertical HF Antenna

I stumbled across an early version of Phil Salas' (AD5X) Portable Vertical HF Antenna article late one night and I immediately planned on building one. I ordered the coil before going to bed...and before realizing that more recent versions of the design existed. Oh well, I have a 2" coil rather than the 2-1/2" coil used in later designs. Read more...

The 20m Portable Dipole Antenna

The portable HF vertical is a keeper, but in the interested of having more options when operating portable, I constructed a simple 20m tuned dipole. Again, I must credit Phil, AD5X, for his article that inspired the balun which is simply 10 turns of RG-174 coax on a FT114-43 ferrite toroid inside a 4"x2"x1" project box with a BNC connector on the bottom end, brass screw terminals on either side, and a short loop of cord on the top end. Read more...

Remote Antenna Switch

Since the backyard is out, I've got two plans of attack that I'm working on, and I'll probably end up using both. They both involve using the wooded area behind the backyard. One plan involves buried coax and a remote antenna switch. The other involves a temporary (i.e. removable) segment of ladder line. Each has its upsides and downsides. Read more...