Bought a HF Rig.....Except the Antenna

[Highlander_821]

One of you mentioned a 'Windom' and a 'Fan Dipole'. Well, I looked into the Windom and it seems to be very efficient, covers many bands, and has a decent broadband capability. It's only $59 plus shipping -10% w/PayPal.
What do you think of the Radiowavz brand and the 10-40 meter version?
DX(OCF)Windom
If I have to get a dipole up for 40 meters and below; I would need a distance of 66 ft above groud for a half-wave of 40 meters. Correct?

Has anyone used this brand and can tell me anything about it? For the price, I don't think I could buy all the parts and assemble and tune it any cheaper. Time is one of the considerations I have; as I have three month untill it's off to the Great Plains and storm spotting. I think I can make it from a tree on the far east end of the lot, put up a mast in the middle, and terminate at the west end of the property. Which is where my Ham shack is. I've also noticed that Radiowavz sells a dipole for the CB band; any input on this? I could probably make a CB dipole out of a SO-239 connector and a dual 18 ft run of stainless steel or solid core copper wire and build it myself. Any tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated! Anyone use a dipole for CB and like it? Is it as good as the claims?

I'm sure that those Radiowavz antennas are fine. If you can conceivably do it, I'd go with the 80 m version instead.

That said, Sonwatcher built a slightly different version of the Windom for less than $15, using clothesline, speaker binding posts, and a homemade 1:1 balun. I know he has excellent results with it. You could put the money saved towards a nice tuner, or a sound card interface, or some other piece of gear.

Remember that even with a commercially made wire antenna, you might have to make some changes. Antennas behave differently based on their environment, so don't expect that buying a pre-made antenna is going to be a plug and play type situation. It might, but don't count on it.

 

[N9RZD]

One of you mentioned a 'Windom' and a 'Fan Dipole'. Well, I looked into the Windom and it seems to be very efficient, covers many bands, and has a decent broadband capability. It's only $59 plus shipping -10% w/PayPal.
What do you think of the Radiowavz brand and the 10-40 meter version?
DX(OCF)Windom
If I have to get a dipole up for 40 meters and below; I would need a distance of 66 ft above groud for a half-wave of 40 meters. Correct?
(snip)
I've also noticed that Radiowavz sells a dipole for the CB band; any input on this? I could probably make a CB dipole out of a SO-239 connector and a dual 18 ft run of stainless steel or solid core copper wire and build it myself. Any tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated! Anyone use a dipole for CB and like it? Is it as good as the claims?

Iv'e never used a windom so i cant comment on it ,
any dipole antenna is going to be a half wavelength of the design freq
with each leg being 1/4 wavelength ,
so 18 feet each side would be closer to 20 mtrs ,
not 11 , Got it ??

All dipoles are half wavelength end to end !!!!
NOT EACH LEG !!!

make certain to add extra length to each leg for making your center
connections and to wrap through your insulators on the ends
( i like to use elctrical grade pvc , just cut a 6 inch piece
and drill a hole in each end of it )
and yes ,this will work for cb ,
but most people are vertically polarized for cb ,
so you probably wont hear much , unless they are real close ,
or you get it vertically hung .
but the technique you describe is the same for any dipole
antenna ,

heres a link to frequency calculator
Frequency Wavelength Calculator

and as far as heighth go's , the higher the better , but
with dipoles , thats not as crucial as you might thinkl
it will affect the radiation pattern slightly ,
but i guarantee , it will still work if you can only get it 15 feet
off the ground

go ahead and spend your money on a commercially made antenna.
i would never consider this , for my base
i have always built my own , and spent my money , on things i
couldnt build .
as others have pointed out
15-18 bucks for a quarter mile of fence wire , means you
could afford to make a few mistakes


73

 

[packrat]

dipole

I would have to agree with the above comments. Dont be afraid to try the antenna build. Build the 11m dipole first if you want. Each side will be about 8.8 feet, and I have built them using old solder rolls for the center insulator, and tie wraps to hold everything together, and shoved them under the shingles on the roof to hold em up!!! All worked to some extent. They work great for cb, you will hear quite well. Again, dont sweat the details!!! Build it, hang it where you can and get talking!!! If money is tight, get creative. An old elect. motor, alt, extension cord, etc. will all yield enough wire free. Insulators can be any nonconductive material. Think, and you can save that money for equipment!

 

[W5LZ]

FWIW stuff, not super important, but handy to remember.

There can be huge differences between 'best' and 'practical', and the reasons for that 'best' thingy. The 'practical' part is usually the determining factor with the average antenna user. I'd love to have a humongous tower, but for where I live, it just isn't too practical (@#$). So, I typically 'made do' with whatever I can manage, which is basically what everyone does.

An antenna's length determines it's radiation pattern. Not the 'conventional wisdom' you hear, but still a fact. What's around an antenna also determines it's radiation pattern, adds to it, or takes away from it, re-shapes it sort of. Making all of that work for you instead of against you is the 'best' you can do without some kind'a drastic changes in most cases.

Resonance is nice, but not absolutely necessary. Almost anything can be -made- resonant. Resonance is the absence of reactances in an antenna. There are certain lengths for antennas that have a sort of 'natural' resonance. Others that are never going to be resonant unless they are made to be by adding the proper reactance, commonly called matching devices. There are NO antennas that have a 'natural' 50 ohms of input impedance. There are plenty of ways of 'getting' that 50 ohms though, pick the easiest way for you that results in the least amount of loss. (The 'trick' with that is not to get too 'tied up' in worrying about efficiency, it ain't never gonna be very close to 100%.)

Misunderstandings are the worst part of any thing, cause the most grief. The two biggies of misunderstandings with radio stuff is 'SWR' and 'grounds'. Neither are what the average radio user thinks they are, and can be 'mis-applied' in almost every case. An explanation of either isn't exactly simple, requires a pretty good teacher to explain, which I am not, sorry 'bout that. The lowest SWR doesn't necessarily mean the best results, and an RF ground isn't the same thing as an 'electrical' ground. That's about the simplest way I know of putting it. And it doesn't tell you squat, does it? The best way of finding out is also probably the hardest. Hit the books. 'Theory' really isn't a 'bad' word. It's just an explanation of why something acts the way it does. Typically, if fact doesn't 'fit' theory, then you ain't got all the required information, or you've misunderstood something. And unless you just particularly like making mistakes, figure out what that misconception is. Isn't that gonna be fun??
- 'Doc

 

[packrat]

antenna

I recently read an article in an old QSL magazine where an old time ham lambasted the theory that low swr was the last word in antenna building. He even went so far as to explain that some swr was needed for an antenna to work well. Sure shows how things change. You just have to remember that the whole reason for fancy ads and pretty pictures is to seperate you from your money, nothing more. The people advertising are not trying to make things better for you, and in ham radio, if they can do it so can you! The whole premise of ham radio is to "to recognize the value of emergency communication, advance the RADIO ART, and improve communication and TECHNICAL SKILLS"!

Save your money and get building an antenna!