How does a vertical antenna work?
Multiband verticals use several traps or similar circuits to electrically change the length of the antenna according to the frequency of the transmitted signal. (The traps are in the vertical elements, not the radials.) Vertical antennas take little horizontal space, but they can be quite tall.
Are dipole antennas any good?
Dipoles rank among the easiest antennas to build, construct or erect for HF amateur radio bands. Commonly used on bands like 80 meters, 40 meters, 20 meters, 15 meters, and 10 meters, dipoles are very useful and can perform excellently well if erected at a high elevation.
How tall is a half wave vertical dipole antenna?
Two Hustler Model 6-BTV antennas were adapted to make up a half wave vertical dipole by mounting them butt- to-butt on a twelve-foot long 2 by 12 inch wooden mast attached to the deck railing at the rear of the house. The center feed point of this combination is only about 22 feet above the ground.
Can a dipole short ham antenna be used?
A more efficient versionwould be to feed a linear-loaded dipole short ham antenna directly with 450 ohm ladder line or 300 ohm twinlead. As I work mostly QRP, I need to minimize RF losses as much as possible.
Can a HF dipole be used as a 50 Ω feeder?
Basic HF dipole antenna. This gives a low impedance feed impedance and this matches nicely to 50 Ω feeder. It is also possible to have longer lengths – antennas with lengths that are odd multiple of half wavelengths long also provide a low impedance. This means that a 40 metre dipole can also be used as a three half wavelength dipole on 15 metres.
Are there any commercially available HF vertical antennas?
There are even commercially available multiband vertical antennas. But they use trapswhich introduce yet another set of lossy components in the equation. In my opinion, if you lack the space for a much more efficient full-size HF dipole, do consider one of the many space saving antennasdescribed elsewhere on this site.