Best Homebrew Multiband Antenna? - HomeBrew Forum at eHam.net

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eHam.net Forum : HomeBrew : Best Homebrew Multiband Antenna?

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RE: Best Homebrew Multiband Antenna?	Reply
by KA4DQJ on June 13, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
I've been fooling with antennas for these 31 years in the hobby, and few people can agree on the "best" of anything. Best usually refers to the best performance, but can also mean best in the terms of cost and ease of construction. For me, probably the best homebrew multibander in the performance department would be a ladderline fed dipole cut for the lowest band and put WAY HIGH up in the air. Reach 50 feet or higher, run the thing through a tuner and you have good signal with a relatively noise-free antenna. The best all-bander for fast and cheap, but still covers all bands is an NVIS, which is a direct copy of one used by the military... the AS-2259. All you need as a 15' mast (PVC will work), with four wires running off the top which also serves as guidewires. Run 52 or 75 ohm coax through the PVC mast, use an antenna tuner and you're ready to hit all bands. I use a simple 5BTV vertical, but have the thing switched to the NVIS to work the deadzone "donut" area not covered by the vertical. There's my opinion. :)

RE: Best Homebrew Multiband Antenna?	Reply
by KA4DQJ on June 13, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
An excellent way to avoid feedline radiation on a coax-fed antenna without having to use a 1:1 is to place loops in the feedline. Create two loops, one at the antenna end of the feedling, and one at the transmitter end. 10 turns of coax, 6" wide and held together with wire ties works fine. Put the 2 loops no further away from the antenna/transmitter than 1/4 wave on the highest frequency band you'll be using. Elevating verticals off the ground causes the feedline to radiate like crazy, but this simple and cost free trick stops feedline radiation cold without have to use a balun.

RE: Best Homebrew Multiband Antenna?	Reply
by N1RGL on June 26, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
A big THANK YOU to everyone who responded. My wife says that I suffer from "analysis paralysis" because I analyze everything to death before taking action. (I just put up the dipole today.) For now, I've gone with a 66' line of 14 awg (I found a place selling 500' for $25), and a 1:1 commercial balun, running RG-8X coax. I am a cheapskate, so the cost of the wire appealed to me. However, now that I have it up, I may splurge on the 14 stranded copper antenna wire specifically for dipoles. I still have no idea what I'm doing, so I may change the whole configuration at some point. Thanks again for all your help and advice. Have a GREAT Field Day.

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