How to build a dipole antenna for Ham Radio!

Building your own Antenna is made simple when you follow along with Jim; and can be done with very easy to find materials!
Check out a text version of the guide at: hamradioprep.com/build-a-dipo...
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[@pmcallah]

Thank you! Ham Radio Prep is the BEST! 🙂

[@HamRadioPrep]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@sgtaaronp]

What a great video! I ordered the course a month ago and got my technician license in 2 weeks! Best course out there if anyone is on the fence about it it's 100% worth the investment! Thanks and 73 from KF8AGU!

[@HamRadioPrep]

Much appreciated!

[@michaeldupree4360]

Thank you Jim, great video and I loved the 3D printed baluns. If its not too personal to ask what printer do you use to print the baluns? I just recently got a Creality K1 and love it. Thanks 73 KI5MDV

[@jaredsteele8506]

For grounding purposes, will copper drain pipes in a second story apartment safely work to ground an outdoor longwire for shortwave listening?

[@jaredsteele8506]

Can i make a smaller one for an apartment balcony? New shortwave listener here in Texas, liked and subbed

[@HamRadioPrep]

Hi, It depends on the size of your balcony, but a dipole for the 10M band is small (28,400 16 feet 4 inches) which if you make it inverted V would be 8 feet 2 inches each leg.

[@jaredsteele8506]

@HamRadioPrep thank you for the response balcony is 12 feet by 5 feet, i think a v shape could work.

[@HamRadioPrep]

@@jaredsteele8506 One of the nice things about this hobby is playing with the antennas. With the space we have available we can put a wire antenna in different ways until we find the ideal position and with good SWR :)

[@nealbeach4947]

Rule number one in building wire antennas is don't overthink a dipole. No balun is necessary.

[@joelschuman1303]

Very good video. Why on baluns is there a frequency limitation and variance? Yours goes up to 30MHz and I have one that goes up to 54MHz. But why wouldn't I be able to try the 2meter or 70cm band?? Thanks. 73 K0JNS

[@ham-radio]

Well, first of all, he refers to a balun that he printed. That is not a balun. It is a center insulator. To answer your questions, baluns with a ferrite core of some kind have a frequency range. There are many types of ferrites. In a KZbin video I used the wrong type and it failed at about 30MHz. The ferrite got to almost 100c. He said at 100 watts you be the judge about the need for a balun. I believe that all HF antennas using coax as in this case, should have a balun. When he said in case some of the RF was reflecting from the antenna and onto feedline is not correct. Keep in mind that if you are using coax, it is a 3, yes, three conductor cable. The explanation is long but really simple. I would explain further but I am tired and just back from chemotherapy. 73, Jim Heath W6LG

[@jasonconklin8172]

Hope u get better Jim

[@joelschuman1303]

@@ham-radio explanation is not that simple

[@HamRadioPrep]

Thanks for the further explanation Jim! Feel better soon!

[@kjb_tennessee]

Excellent video. I used a cheap plastic cutting board to make my insulators, hoping to get to a ham fest soon.

[@metheme2032]

When building an antenna, should I be using a frequency in the middle of the band?

[@HamRadioPrep]

You should be building for whatever frequency you think you're going to be using. Most tuners will tune your antenna down if you build for the middle of the band, but you can cut for precise frequencies if you want to run without a tuner. Hams will commonly cut antennas for 14.074 mhz for an digital mode focused dipole, for instance.

[@jasonconklin8172]

I'm not using wire but copper 3/4 inch apx 6.3 foot use gray pvc T as we kno beside silver copper best conductor female connector 4 connector 2 meters br very easy now cheap no

[@HamRadioPrep]

Thanks for the info

[@eternaladventure-wm5fn]

Part two tomorrow?

[@HamRadioPrep]

We're working on a more detailed video coming soon.