Ham Radio Antennas
One of the serious parts of a ham radio arrangement is the antenna. You could have the costly and the powerful engineer on the market these days but your signal goes nowhere w/out a good setup antenna arrangement.
There are a lot of different kinds of antennas for the operator of ham radio. There are antennas like the quad and yagi 00004000 and non directional antennas like the vertical. Each of these kinds of antennas have their own place. There are wired antennas of all sizes and types depending on the occurrence being utilized and how much space you have to put an antenna up.
The yagi antenna type is directional and has a few elements that are designed for 1 frequency. There are antennas that will tune to 2 or 3 frequency bands but drop some bandwidth and power in the design. These kinds of antennas are intended to be mounted on a pole or tower support type with a means of putting them in the place that you like the signals to go. They are so popular with the critical hams because of their capability to transmit and receive radio signals in the preferred direction.
The quad antenna, like the yagi antenna, is also a directional antenna. These directional antennas tend to be so large at some occurances. They are so effective directional antennas if you've the place to put them up. Quad antennas are created of wire and some other kind of supporting formation such as fiberglass or bamboo poles. They're mounted so they can be turned into the preferred direction as well.
Antennas that are wire, for the most part made with a particular frequency. They could be so simple in design like a dipole, which is 2 pieces of wire lined in the center and placed between 2 supports and comparatively flat or assisted by 1 pole and the sides inclined like an upturned aVa shape or assisted by 1 pole with the wire inclined in the position that you like the signal to go. These antennas are so simple to tune, design, and install and are so popular with starting operators of ham radio. Wire antennas could be so complex with a lot of pieces of wire, coils, signal traps, tuner and insulators components.
Such antennas are the commonly used Ham Radio Antennas types. Antenna tuning, design, and installation could use a lot of the operator's time, but it is so rewarding when these signals come in and out where you like them to, with the utmost power transfer.
Ham Radio Antenna out of a Fan?
I was wondering if anyone knew how to make an antenna out of a fan. If you could give me the parts one would need to make it, and how to do it, that would be great.
Sure, it’s easy. Start by cutting the plug off the end of the cord. The two wires are where your coax line attaches.
Next, determine what frequency range you want your “fantenna” to resonate on. For UHF, use an 8″ diameter fan. For VHF, use a 10″ diameter. For the higher HF bands, like 10, 12, and 15 meters, use a 12″ diameter fan. 17, 20, 30, and 40 meters work best on a 16″ diameter fan, and you’ll need a 20″ diameter fan for 75, 80 and 160 meters.
Fantennas are highly directional, but if you can rig yours to oscillate, your signal will be spread over a wide area.
Where can I buy dual band HAM radio antenna?
I have Wouxun KG-UVD1P dual bander radios.
I want to extend power up to 200W.
Where can I buy HAM Radio Antenna mobile or fixed on power up to 200W??? Preferable Dual Bander Antenna.
First to operate that radio at 200w you’re going to need an amplifier that will take an input of 5w and output 200w. This will be difficult to find. Next you will need a fixed antenna (like a J-Pole) to mount on a mast. Those you can make yourself out of copper or aluminum piping.
IMHO, better to get a mobile radio and use a linear amp with an external antenna.
what can you make a ham radio antenna mount out of?
we want to put up a 80 ft. pipe for a ham radio antenna can we use pvc? or should we use steel i need a 1 1/4″ id pipe on top
Providing the pvc was strong enough and able to withstand the elements including UV light.,and the earthing was correct then there should not be a problem .However i would personally never use pvc for this .
Part of the design of a ham radio antenna relies on the fact that the antenna is earthed.(well earthed ) Using plastic piping you may have problems with the SWR ratio when tuning .
Another aspect is during rain there can and will be a massive static build up on the antenna,your very own lightning conductor .
do i need the cb ham radio antenna on the ground?
so i have this cb ham radio antenna and it is not on the ground, it is on the roof of my house. my house is not tall, just a normal regular house. do i need to put the antenna on the pole that is on the ground? and not on the roof? well my antenna is on the pole and its on the roof of the house. why is called ground plane antenna? and why do i need to put the antenna with the pole on the ground?
What is the best ham radio antenna that will pick up all frequencies at a reasonable price and where to buy?.?
I would like to attach it to the chimney as I am limited on space and do not have a tower. I have tried running the ladder antenna and lines from the house to the top of tree over across yard and back to ground. This works great until there is an ice storm and high winds. End up back at the beginning after every winter storm. Help please.
Are you transmitting with this antenna or just receiving? Receiving would be easy. For transmitting, there are a number of multi-band dipoles out there. How many bands is “all” for you? There are a few HF verticals, but I wouldn’t call them cheap. If sounds like you will just have to come up with a better anchor on your tree.
For a ground plane vertical to work correctly they need to be mounted above a conductive sheet or metal or a radial network.
This metal sheeting is called the ‘ground plane’.
If your house roof is made form metal roof sheeting , then this can be used as a ground plane surface , just in the same way it is used in a car antenna installation.
This is not however possible if you wish to raise the antenna base away from the surface of the sheeting , eg , on a pipe mast support above your roof.
If you want to get the antenna up on a pole you MUST replace the ground plane with radials.
Radials are wires connected to the base of the antenna and are approximately 1/4 wavelength long.
Typically they are angled slightly down for impedance matching purposes , which also makes them handy in some applications as guy wires.
Up on a pole you don’t have as bad an effect called ‘earth losses’ . this means that 4 radials may be all that is required to get the antenna to perform well. (but more the merrier)
Now if you mount your antenna at ground level the losses force you to use a considerably more amount of radials.
AM band broadcast stations use 120 radials ..!!!!!
Typically though no appreciable gain can be seen after you get past 20 – 30 or so radials.
The result of using less radials than required is poor radiation efficiency.
4 radials just wont cut it in this situation.
That all means that with a poor radials system ,. you have more wasted power , by comparison to a good radial system.
Another disadvantage of using a ground mounted antenna is signal obstruction due to buildings and trees etc.
Not only will these drop the strength of your incoming signals , but they also absorb your outgoing power, which means again , less overall effectiveness from the antenna.
Ground mounted verticals can work well ‘ONLY’ , if they are mounted in the clear and ‘ONLY’ when used against a suitable ground system.
Saying this , the fact is , most attempts of ground mounted verticals for CB fall far short of the requirements and often perform poorly.