I am looking to make a simple antenna for use with a homebrew radio
thanks,
chris

 

I am looking to make a simple antenna for use with a homebrew radio
thanks,
chris

Hi Chris,
What kind of antenna you need is subjective.

If you are looking for omnidirectional (sending/receiving in a uniformly circular pattern), you might do with a 1/4 or 5/8 wavelength whip. A "Starduster" is a decent design. You can find plans with a web search. You will need to match the antenna design to the frequency bands you plan on using.

If you want unidirectional (transmit/receive in a narrow pattern to/from a specific direction) you should research Yagi antennas.

Note that transmitting at even very low power levels may require licenses in your area, or even be forbidden.

 

40 meter band
receiving only
thank you,
chris

 

40 meter band
receiving only
thank you,
chris

That's going to be a very large antenna!

OK, 10 meters of wire suspended vertically from something, connected to an BNC or TNC connector, then by 50 Ohm coax to the input of the receiver. The coax could be RG-8 (preferable, but expensive and bulky) RG-58 (cheap, but lossy) or a number of other possible selections.

Really, you should investigate the AARL or your local HAM club. I haven't set up an honest-to-Gosh base station antenna since I tried to do so at the barracks when I was on active duty, which displeased my SgtMaj to no end (he really was not pleased, and I can't publish the rather one-sided discussion we had about it on this G-rated forum)

 

Actually, I just remembered about this handbook earlier today:

http://www.armymars.net/ArmyMARS/Antennas/Resources/usmc-antenna-hb.pdf

It's really very good.