Simple Antennas for the Amateur Radio Operator--a continuing series
KH6JRM's Amateur Radio Blog Post 165 BACK TO BASICS One of the creative things amateur radio operators can do these days is to build simple, effect wire antennas. Although most commercial antennas are well made and perform well, there is nothing quite like building your own antenna and working DX on a shoestring budget. So, let's begin with my favorite band--20 meters. After I took down my temporary "long wire" antenna this morning, it was time to rebuild a 20-meter antenna that had seen better days. As mentioned in post 164, rodents and other unnamed creatures chewed on my feed lines and elements, creating an ugly mess. Fortunately, I still had a homebrew 33-foot mast made from 2-inch pvc pipe which could be pressed into service. I attached 16 1/2 feet of AWG 22 wire to one half of the mast and another 16 1/2 feet of wire to the bottom of the mast. At the midway point of the mast, I attached and soldered 40-feet of 450-ohm ladder line. The line ran i