wrote in message
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Dee Flint wrote:
wrote in message
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New to ham radio. Interested in building an antenna for a base
station.
I dont have anything yet, just in the planning stage.


Thought about buying a handheld and using that as part of my "base
station" one maybe capable of 2 440 and 6. These seem cheaper used
than
the home units.


Yes the handhelds are cheaper but they have a lot less power.
However if
your antenna is high enough, you can do amazing things with it.


My question is, is there information out there on how to build one?
I
have a radio shack book at home that has a plan for a 440. It uses
aluminum ground wire. What I find when working with this stuff is
it is
impossible to make it perfectlyu straight. Doesn't that effect the
performance? I mean it comes coiled and when I cut it to length I
cant
get it perfectly straight.


It doesn't have to be perfectly straight. You won't notice any
difference
unless you have loops coiled in it.


Also, it is posisble to have good performance with one antenna for
all
the bands? Or is it absolutely necessary to have one antenna for
each
band? I have limited room.


Yes there are multiband antennas. Basically, they use some type of
coil or
trap to subdivide the antenna. The full length of the antenna is
used for
the lowest frequency, etc.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

What would you recommend? Building a beam for two meter? If I did that
would it work ok on 440 too?


I'm not into a lot of VHF/UHF work personally however my OM likes loop
antennas. However loops don't have any significant gain unless you stack
them. Many people do like beams and some build their own. There are MANY
good antenna books available from the ARRL. Start with The ARRL Antenna
Book. As for working on more than one band, only those designed with that
in mind will work adequately on two bands. If it is designed for only one
band, it will be very bad on the other.

Also, I have seen beams mounted bothe on it's side and upright like an
outside tv antenna. Which way is better?


Vertical elements on beams will yield vertical polarization and are thus
suitable for repeater work and a lot of FM simplex.

Horizontal elements will yield horizontal polarization and are thus suitable
for weak signal work such as working distant SSB stations (horizontal is the
custom on SSB).

You really need to get and read a good antenna book. A newsgroup cannot
give you enough detail.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE