On Jun 18, 6:26*pm, Michael wrote:
On Jun 18, 10:15*am, W8CCW wrote:









On Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:53:09 -0700 (PDT), Michael

wrote:
Hiya...

Non technical newly minted ham here :-)

Now that I've decided on what to get for my first ham radio,
(TS-590s)
I'm moving on to deciding on an antenna.

The goal will be DX'ing the ham bands with phone and eventually CW.
I'm looking for an antenna set up that will work on 10 to 80 meters.
Of course, multiple specific antennas would be an ideal, but that is
not in the cards.

I've had a few options in mind. *All of course, would be coupled with
an antenna tuner if the internal auto tuner on the radio cold not do
the job.

The first antenna you buy or build will be a disappointment.

Bigger is always better than smaller with an antenna. We all
eventually learn that.

A multi band antenna is like a Swiss Army Knife. (I use both!) They
are very handy, but it is always easy to find a better solution to the
task at hand.

Cautiously imitate the success of others before you get too serious
about innovating. There are reasons why some antennas or equipment are
or are not popular.

Locally here in Central North Carolina the recommendation to new Hams
is what is known as the G5RV antenna. There are a lot of respected
vendors who offer G5RV's at competitive prices. You will need some
kind of tuner sooner or later.

Get on the air! Find out what direction you really want to go.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanx for the response...

I actually have a 102' G5RV that I used to use for short-wave
listening. *Currently, it is coiled up in storage in my basement. I
took that antenna down along with a long wire I had after I built the
inverted L that I currently use for short wave listening. *The
inverted L did better across the board than those other two antennas,
so I took them down. *The G5RV had a decent signal to noise ratio for
short wave, but the inverted L I built is considerably better. *I'd
assume that grounding the matching transformer properly made all the
difference. *At any rate... *I would not used that old G5RV for my
transmit antenna because the feed line is only 300 ohms. *Since I have
decided to go with a wire dipole for starters, I'm moving on now to
buy the best one I can find. *I don't care to homebrew my first ham
antenna... Rather have one that I'm sure works while I'm learning the
ropes

Since you decided to start with a wire dipole, consider making or
downloading a map centered on your location so you optimize the
orientation for whom you want to work. For example, my 20m Field Day
dipole will be optimized for 060 degrees, the bearing from Southern
California that favors the most of North America. Getting it wrong can
cost more than an s-unit.

http://www.wm7d.net/az_proj/ will provide one from your inputs. (I
could only get it to print North America just now; probably something
I did.)

If you make a resonant dipole cut to length for one band (my
preference), its height-above-ground affects its resonant frequency.
Close to the ground brings resonance at a lower frequency than the
formulas predict, so you'd need to shorten it to bring it to resonance
(at that height).

Antennas can be hard work but when you get one that plays well, it's
all worth it.

"Sal"
(KD6VKW)