Ham Radio Antenna Building

Chapter 1: Wire Antenna Field Guide: What You'll Build and Why

Every antenna book on the shelf starts with a promise of the perfect antenna. The one that tunes up on every band, fits in a backpack, survives a thunderstorm, and costs less than a decent dinner. I have been chasing that antenna for thirty years. I have not found it. What I have found is a set of five wire antenna designs, each of which solves a specific set of problems, and each of which has a specific set of trade-offs you need to understand before you cut the first piece of wire.

This book is about those five designs, built for field deployment. Not for the permanent backyard installation with a tower and a rotor, though you can adapt any of these for home use. I am writing for the operator who packs a radio into the woods, sets up in a state park for a POTA activation, or throws a line over a tree branch at a campsite. The operator who needs an antenna that goes up in 20 minutes, comes down in 10, and fits in a pocket of the radio bag. The operator who has learned, the hard way, that the antenna is the radio station.

Here is what you will be able to do when you finish this book. You will be able to look at a deployment site, assess the available trees, masts, and open space, and choose the correct antenna design in