Tag: antenna theory
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Understanding Duty Cycle: Why Your Radio’s Power Rating Isn’t the Whole Story
Part of our Where to Spend Your Money guide. A radio rated for 100 watts does not necessarily mean you can key it at 100 watts continuously for an extended period without consequences. Duty cycle is the piece of the spec sheet that explains why, and it matters more than most hams realize until they…
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Antenna Height: How Much Does It Actually Matter
Part of our Building Your First Ham Radio Station guide. Every ham has heard “get it up in the air” as antenna advice, and it is generally true, but the relationship between height and performance is more nuanced than just higher equals better, especially once you factor in what you are actually trying to work.…
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Ladder Line and Open-Wire Feedline: When Balanced Beats Coax
Part of our Building Your First Ham Radio Station guide. Coax dominates modern ham radio for good reason, but ladder line and open-wire feedline have not disappeared, and for a specific kind of multi-band wire antenna, they still solve a problem coax genuinely struggles with. Why Ladder Line Loses So Little Ladder line’s two parallel…
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Center-Fed vs End-Fed: Choosing Your Antenna’s Feed Point
Part of our Building Your First Ham Radio Station guide. Where you feed a wire antenna, at the center or at one end, changes more than just how you hang the wire. It affects impedance, installation flexibility, and even how forgiving the antenna is about your specific yard. Center-Fed: The Classic Dipole Approach A center-fed…
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Roof-Mounted vs Ground-Mounted Verticals: Tradeoffs You Don’t See Coming
Part of our Building Your First Ham Radio Station guide. Mounting a vertical antenna on a roof instead of at ground level solves some real problems and creates a few new ones that do not show up until you are actually up there installing it. Why People Roof-Mount in the First Place Small lots, HOA…
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Vertical vs Yagi vs Wire for DX: A Decision Framework
Part of our Building Your First Ham Radio Station guide. Every antenna thread on every ham radio forum eventually turns into an argument about which is best for DX, and the honest answer is that all three of these can work DX, and all three have real tradeoffs. I want to walk through how I…
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Magnetic Loop Antennas: The HOA-Proof HF Antenna
Why a magnetic loop might be the only real HF option for balconies, apartments, and HOA lots that stealth wire antennas can’t get past.
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Building a 49:1 Transformer for a 40m End-Fed Half-Wave Antenna
The end-fed half-wave presents a nasty impedance to match. Here’s how to wind the 49:1 transformer that tames it, and build the 40m wire to go with it.
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Choosing Coax for HF: Efficiency, Length, and Cost
Coax is not just a wire that connects your radio to your antenna. The type and length you choose affects efficiency, cost, and your whole operating experience. Here is how to think about it.
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NVIS vs. Vertical DX Antennas: Two Completely Different Jobs on the Same Bands
Same bands, opposite goals. Here’s how NVIS and vertical DX antennas actually differ, and how a low-mounted 40m EFHW can blanket a state like Arizona.