eSwap

   

Next Meeting

The Gathering
of the
Ak-Sar-Ben Amateur Radio Club
will be on 
November 8 at 7:00 pm

At the 
American Red Cross
2912 S 80th Ave

This month's program 

TBA

   

Featured Shacks

K0CTU SHACK
K0CTU SHACK
   

If you stay a ham for 50 years, you'll never get to the end of all the antenna advise to be had.   Some of it is good advice, some of it is awful and the rest is somewhere in between.  Rather than give you  a five decade data dump, we will leave you with two general guidelines.

  1. There's an old ham radio adage that says that $1 spent on an antenna is worth $10 spent on a radio.  In other words, the fanciest rig i the world won't do you as much good as a decent antenna

  2. Some hams, having encountered rule number 1, incorrectly conclude that if they can't put up a great antenna, there is no use in even trying to get on the air.  Yes, the better antenna, the better you'll do, but even a so-so antenna can give you good results.   If you're dealing with a small lot, or the constraints of an apartment, or neighborhood covenants, rest assured that others have dealt with them as well.

A few places to look for information:

There's an ARRL book called Simple and Fun Antennas for Hams (https://www.arrl.org/shop/Simple-and-Fun-Antennas-for-Hams)

But there are dozen of books at the ARRL https://www.arrl.org/shop/Antennas/ on antennas.  

 Or ask at a ham club meeting if someone has one they can loan you.