Homemade Ham Radio Antennas
Ham radio, also known as amateur radio, is a means by which an individual can communicate within designated frequency ranges directly with other radio hobbyists. Some hobbyists choose to make their own antennas at home.
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Background
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Radio amateurs use allocated frequency ranges throughout the RF spectrum. Once licensed, radio operators can broadcast freely within designated power limits, utilizing a government-designated call sign as a means of identification.
Antennas
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Ham radio enthusiasts employ a variety of antenna types to receive and transmit broadcasts. The antenna is crucial to the success of a ham radio, as a weak or nonfunctional antenna can seriously hamper even powerful receiving and transmitting equipment. There are various categories of antennas in common use -- such as vertical, dipole, reflector and loop antennas -- all of which can be made at home with the proper knowledge and materials.
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Homemade Antennas
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One of the easiest antennas you can make at home is a ground plane antenna, made by soldering copper wires to a ham radio antenna adapter plate, bending the wires to an appropriate angle and attaching the apparatus to the ham radio receiver with a coaxial cable. You can find detailed instructions for constructing a ground plane antenna, as well as other types of antennas, on ham radio websites.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit antenna image by Madrider from Fotolia.com antenna image by fotografiche.eu from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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I have read a lot about commercially available flag pole antennas. I wonder why a plain old existing flag pole say of 25 feet or so, couldn't be fed at the bottom using a good antenna tuner, add radials to the setup, seems like it should work. I have checked all over the net and find no reference to using an existing flagpole.
