Bar-none the BEST lesson in the practicalities of antennas I have found yet...and I've been trying to understand how to use them for years. Brilliantly easy to understand, AND now I would actually be comfortable even building one. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
It's now Oct 2024. You made this video 12 years ago! Look how many people you've helped, over the years. Me included. Just need to find those parts and I'm ready to build. Thanks.
Awesome video! All I have to say is there are a ton of instructional HAM videos here on UA-cam, but yours is one of the most professionally done. I find this video to be very informative. You speak clear and concise, and your camera angles are spot on. I can only dream about undertaking such a project. Unfortunately I don't currently have the resources at my disposal, and I live on the ground floor of a 3 story apartment building.
Great video! One thing I would advise those doing this project; when making any wire antenna, I temporarily mount it on a pole in the yard before stringing it up high, this way you can trim or lengthen without climbing back up the tower.
Something to consider structurally, the solder removes any flexibility in the stranded copper wire. So make your solder connection away from a pivot point. That way it won't cause your wire to break over time with movement (wind etc.). 73's NG7I
Built my 1st homebrew antenna using the inspiration from this video and got 3 DX contacts on 10 meters. Thanks so much for the video. It truly made it easy for my 1st antenna build. 73's W8BRY
Thanks Larry, looks like you've given me something to do when the spring arrives. I've often thought of making one of these antennas, but it makes it much easier when you have something to follow which isn't just a piece of paper.
Hello Larry- I just put up an 80 OCF feed through a homebrew 4:1 balun. It seems work, matches up nicely. Now with your video, I am going to take it down and add 3 more elements-40-20&10. With the limitations of my place this is perfect! Thanks so much for posting. I guess its out to the shop for me.....
Thanks! I'm just trying to get up and running. My HF is sick, but it's out for some help, and a friend came over with his good stuff and we got a 20M wire up, but I think I'm going to add a 40M. This video is very detailed and shows me gauges, etc. I had the formula, but wasn't sure about the wire gauge, and the tie cable size. COOL! Thanks for a great video.
I'm new to all this.. You have excellent explanation skills.. I installed my dipole antenna yesterday night and its working just fine. Thanks to your video I had no problems.. Hello from Texas USA..👍👍👍👍
Best info yet that I have found regarding antenna builds. Thanks for bringing us along. I really like your console setup that’s some rig! Thanks again.
Yeah thanks ... good straight shooting info ... I appreciate that you said that one antenna is not 'better' than the other ... just different lobes doing a different job in different directions ... love that truth ...
Great visual! My house in Oklahoma sits on a diagonal and the hypotenuse of the roof is just over 63 feet with a roof vent right in the middle that I should be able to tie the center feed off to. With some stand offs on opposing corners of the house, I should be able to get that 65.9 feet out of it perfectly without having to stretch to any trees, which is nice since I have no trees. That will broadside me almost due east and west! Thanks for the video!
Sounds great, it should work very well for you, as good as a full size dipole on each band you cut it for and if you might not even need the tuner but if it is off a little the tuner will help to tweak it right in without needing to prune each wire as long as you are close. And you should be able to use on any band with tuner and it should work fine except on 160, still possible on 160 by just shorting center pin right at tuner and using separate ground wire for 160.
Lot of snow and cold in the winter and plenty of hot and humidity in the summer but I like summer the best, lot of changes in season here, one extreme to the other. Severe weather starts about April and goes through June for the most part with some tornadoes, hail and wind etc. I do have a few Uniden scanners as well as Radio Shack models from over the years.
Tip: I've been playing around with building antennas from scratch the last couple years and since we're already using "metric" for the wavelengths anyway, I decided to just DITCH the imperial tape measure for a metric one so I don't have to "convert" any measurements or deal with fractions or mess with converting 10ths of an inch to a fraction either. HOLY COW was that the BEST $8 I think I've ever spent on ham radio! Not only do you save the time it takes to convert measurements but it's also a HECK of a lot more precise, there's more increments "per inch" if you just use metric. Good video BTW, I keep debating whether or not to build one of these, but I'd need to make a "vertical" one for my quad band radio with 70cm/2m/6m/10m.
@@HardAxe yeah, HATE fractions. Hey how many feet in a mile? Ummm... 🤔dunno 3k something? Now how many many meters in a kilometer? 1000! [yeah, don't even have to be a Brit to figure that out...]
Many thanks again, Larry, for your prompt and informative reply. I don't know whether you get to Asia-Pacific at all, but if and when you visit Hong Kong be sure to let me know. Happy to extend accommodation and hospitality. All the best, Peter
Yes, it should work a little better than a G5RV antenna since it is a full quarter wave on each band, sure been working well here, no complaints. Although, for just a mono band dipole, the coaxial dipole might be a good choice, they are very broad banded.
That is what I say, usually you can make your own much cheaper than you can buy the same thing for and they work the same. Just depends on how much time you have to do it I guess. Thanks for the comment, appreciate it very much! 73,,,Larry
Thank you for the details you kindly provided in your video! Using hot glue to hold the spreaders in the right location was solved the issue with my antenna! Thanks again
I got my dipole installed in the attic yesterday. I am not sure how its going to work, I should have it up and running today (i am still setting up my station equipment). Unfortunately I dont have an antenna analyzer but i think i might put it on my to buy list. I had to run a lot of my dipole legs real close to each other, some may even touch at places. On a cooler day I will go back up to the attic and move them to a better location. Will report back after I try it!
Sounds good, with an OCF antenna, not sure how it would work adding extra elements to that, have not tried so you might want to look into that a little more, but if you just build a dipole the same as I did here, it has been working very well for me. I also have an OCF dipole and I switch back and forth for the one that gives me the best signal in the direction I am talking.
thanks and hopefully you can find the noise, try using an AM portable radio and walking around the area or shutting off circuit breakers to your house one at a time. Thanks for the post! 73..Larry
Larry this has been the most instructional and comprehensive video I have watched anywhere so far on the problem of getting a n antenna up and running. My problem still is the HOA I'm in I need a stealth hf ant. lol have a great day.
Patrick Kerr I have a M.F.J. loop. Only 3 a foot circle. A little to heavy to move in and out every day but some guy's do and some put it in there attic. Yahoo has a group for it you might check it out. It is a bit pricey.
leo sav I just got a mfj 1625- just have to figure out how to put it together and up. not many instructions with it. My next project is the Homemade Loop The MFJ one is really too expensive for me. lol
leo sav I made my own mag loop, in about that same size - I used the air variable tuner capacitor from an old Hallicrafters S-38 receiver, and it works well for listening - it could be used also for QRP transmitting, but I have not tried that yet. Basically a loop of LMR600 cable for the main loop, with a small loop of LMR400. It will tune 80 meters and all the way up past 20 meters. Just tune for maximum noise on the band you want to work. I am in an apartment and listen to 3913 KHz every night...
Thank you Larry your very welcome, and thanks once more for having posted the video in the first place. I do have a question if i may, Would it be ok to make some kind of center feed point like you have but longer so that it is the depth of all the bands of dipoles. Then for me to have terminals for each band and run coax up the inside with branches of to each set of terminals for each band so that the dipoles do not all bunch up together at the feed point,
Yes it is about being as high up as you can go with it, but it will still make plenty of contacts at a low height. It will just not be as good for longer distances and DX if closer to the ground. It will actually work better for stations within a few hundred miles when lower to the ground since it radiates higher into the air instead of a low angle take off so signal is reflected down from the sky closer in. Stations farther away may still hear you, just not as strong as having it up higher.
I think I tied a knot at the very end of each leg of the dipoles at the last spacer but on the spacers that are not at the end I just used the hot glue, it held very secure and if it did come lose, I don't think the spacers will move around much anyhow. No problems with mine yet and it works just fine, I would think it would work better than a G5RV on the bands you cut if for since it is a full size dipole on those bands but I have not compared it to a G5RV I guess so can't say for sure.
I know what you mean about seeing something live or by video, much easier than on paper! The antenna has been working very well here, good luck with your project!
Give that a try, it should work ok, the swr might be a little tricky but if you have tuner, should be no problem. Won't be quite as good as up in the clear but at least it should get you on the air and making contacts. Might pick up a little more noise also and you might want to run lower power if you have RF problems. Another option might be a wire loop antenna as long as possible with an auto couple type tuner right in the attic connected directly to antenna.
like those ranch style homes, do you have much seveare weather in the spring and summer months? and I am sure plenty of cold ans snowy weather in the winter. cool radio board you got, have any uniden scanners too???
I made one for 160m-75m (half wave) and it works great. I just added a Balun Designs 1:1 to the center and will be adding 60m. I did not bother with insulators and just strung the legs out at different angles from the tower. I also keep a "balun pully" on my Rohn 25's hazer for easy up and down of the dipole from the ground. You will always need a tuner for broadband operation of these dipoles. 73
what a terrific video.wow talk about a great antenna making vid-that was it.same view from the tower as the view from the state fair on those sky trolley cars you rode on.that was cool seeing the view from the tower.much learned.and many thanks for the effort.lots of hard work on your part.thats a nice set-up wow.A+ video. happy DXing and 73,KB3YJO davy
Great video - thanks for the insight on the choke - I am going to make one for 20, 10, (and should be able to tune up for 11 for recieve) and 6, as thats all I can throw up in my limited yard space. Sick of noisy verticals!
Thanks and good luck with your antenna, should work great. Now I know who you are on here too, lol, So great to see you on here, I did watch your uploaded videos before, they were great, I just didn't know it was you at the time but now I do with your call sign!
The fan dipole uses way more wire than a good OCDF- Off Center Fed Dipole. The standard configuration to start with is 90x45, and use a balun Design OCFD balun for the best results. That balun is marked as to which side the longe element goes to, so make sure you get the correct balun. I can work 2M .70CM, 6M, 10M, 12M, 17M, 18M, 20M, 40M, and a smart part of 80M on my OCFD using no tuner. If I use the Tuner, it helps on some bands that have a narrow window of use. In all cases, the antenna works really well. The fan dipole has a few things it can do due to the proximity of the elements to each other. The only bad thing that can happen is to generate harmonics.
I think I'll try building your fan dipole antenna. I guess it'll be much more fun than just building one with a never used ICOM MN-100 antenna matcher I've got stored for a long time. Thanks for your time and dedication. 73 from PY5WHO, Brazil.
Hi there, WOW !! what a great video, for a keen listener but with fairly limited knowledge like myself, this was great stuff, I see you have a Realistic Pro-2006 too, I've had mine since new prob 20yrs ago and still I'd say one of the best for day to day listening. Another subscriber just clicked !!
Thanks, and yes, I have had my Pro-2006 probably for about the same amount of time and it is still working although the display is dim, normal problem with those, there is a place you can get new displays out there I have seen. 73 and thanks again for the post...Larry
Thanks, well the cost really depends on what you might have on hand but the most cost would be the coax cable depending on how much you needed to get to the shack and the wire for the antenna, but you don't really need anything special for wire, just something that will hold up over time. The PVC I used was very inexpensive, just a few dollars for all.
Since my antenna was so close to start with I just left it so I can't tell you from first hand experience on the fan type dipole but if I were to start, I would probably start with the longest leg and work down from there, since each one can effect the other, you may have to go back another time for fine tuning a little but I wouldn't think it would be much.
Awesome video, awesome tower and antenna array! Nice house too! Laughs! Oh and the shack goes without saying, stay warm up there in the land of the lakes! Thanks 73 KR7SWG
Wow! One hell of a tower and antenna setup! Nice job. I may try to put something like this up on the top of my roof which is pretty long.Thanks for sharing. 73
How much do things like houses in the way affect the height off the ground? In other words, if I mount this at the apex of my long roof will it be similar to mounting it two stories off the ground, or more like the inches off the roof? I am going to order the ARRL antenna book. New ham here... Maybe someday I get a tower, but the spousal unit would not approve until we move houses. Thanks. 73
It will be like the height above ground but the house will effect it a little bit. If you have a metal roof, that is different, then it will effect it a lot. But with a normal roof, just get it as much above the roof as you can. Just get something up in the air and make contacts and you can always make changes later on as need be. The antenna book is a great investment. Congrats on being a new ham also!! Good luck and have fun with radio. 73
Thanks so much for the replies. Great info. Can't wait until my callsign appears in the database so I cans start transmitting. I am about ready to take the General test as well to work the HF bands. The EE stuff is easy for me but have to know the bands and regs, etc. Thanks again. 73
I guess I don't know what are available for sure these days on autocouplers but they are probably more expensive than just a shack tuner since they are remoted, MFJ might be lower cost if they have one, then you could just make your own loop around the perimeter of the attic possibly using standard wire, another idea might be a magnetic loop antenna with remote tuning. They work well in small space. Just some added ideas, but I would try what you have first, much lower cost and may work fine.
Easy to follow, detailed video. Great work. Planning to buy my first HT radio, an FT-450D, along with a G5RV. But now I may try to build this antenna, instead of buying G5. Roger, Trinidad & Tobago. 9Z3RM (TTO), KK4NAD (USA).
I am kind of wondering about that twist also, was thinking maybe I should have shot a little of that hot glue into the bottom of each pvc insulator section to weight the bottom of each one down just a touch to keep it down if you know what I mean.
Thank you for sharing, its great to see some real detail in making a dipole :D Im only a listener to the airwaves but still enjoy the technical involvement required to get results :D Love your equipment bench! Thanks again :)
New sub here. I am originally from northern Minnesota. I see you mentioned being from MN. Just passed my Tech & General rest this weekend. Now I have a license to learn. Haha. I am planning on building a fan dipole myself.
Congratulations on the new ticket! That is great to hear. The learning still goes on for me, never ends so glad you got started in the hobby. I am from southern MN, Albert Lea. 73 and have fun with radio.
@@RadioHamGuy hey there. I am just now getting putting my HF in the shack. I am going to do a fan dipole on inverted v and branch out to a vertical and loop maybe. What bands are best to setup for? Are you still using this? Oh we usually drive right through Albert Lea on our trips to northern Minnesota. This year we are staying put in Texas. I will miss my Minnesota family. Who knows when this pandemic is in our past maybe we could have a cup of coffee along I-35 one day. 73!
@@brentjohnson6654 Hi Brent, that is nice to hear you have family in MN and go by my town here on the way. Yes, hopefully next year will be a better year and we can get done with this stuff. I don't have this antenna up anymore, I am always switching things around but it did work very well, now I have another off center fed antenna up in place of that. Right now your best bet would be antennas for 20 and 40 meters but soon you will probably want something up for 10 and 15 as well as the sunspots get underway. 73 and good luck, sounds like you are getting set up well. Have fun with radio....Larry
@@RadioHamGuy thanks I am now looking at 3 bands 20,40, and maybe 17. I am also looking to put up a vertical like the DX commander to get better reach and more bands maybe. Yes hope to be done with the worst of this virus. Back to antennas, I get that you change things around. That is the appeal of this science hobby to me. Thanks for your response and hope to see you on the air soon. 73 de KI5HXM
@@brentjohnson6654 Sounds great and yes, I should have mentioned 17 meters also, that is a great band right now and should be for the coming years. I don't know why that band slipped my mind.
I was curious as you progressed on the video, how you were going to string out/ hang your wires? either from some sort of mast/ or stay..........so it looks like you just tied it off by some other wire to a tree and you said a roof vent? And after seiing your mast/tower the neighbors know you are the ham nut! hope you have that tower grounded very well!! expensive toys to replace if lightning strikes. so how far can you transmitt?
Thank you for putting in all the effort to make this video. I'm learning and it's great to see someone build from scratch - I prefer that to buying off the shelf, just the DIY demon I'm possessed by I suppose
You did a very good job describing und illustrating the construction of the antenna! I'm just still a bit unsure of how to tighten the radiators of the antenna at the center feed point of the antenna. I'm scared i won't manage to make the antenna strong enough to keep hanging.
Just build one like this and sounds good now all I need to do is find out where I am getting this s7-9 noise time to make a beam and walk around the neighborhood. Thanks for the simple clear instructions. Maybe after I can get this noise out of the way I can actually get active on the radio. KF5PVM
Thanks! My ft-450d comes with an auto tuner but it can only handle 3:1 SWR and below. I am thinking of getting another external tuner in case the auto tuner cant handle it. I was looking at the wire loop anteannas with the auto couple type tuner's but assuming I was looking at the right thing, they were like over $400...
Sounds like the noise is probably coming from some very local things in the house, you might see if you can pinpoint it to something to try to cut the noise down maybe, could be coming from computers or light dimmers or that kind of thing. Or maybe just a lot of things too, then it would be hard to get rid of. I use a pocket AM transistor radio and walk around the area to find the noise sources, tuned to no station.
No updates other than it worked great for me for a long time and then I took it down to try some other experiments, but I did love the fan dipole antenna. Worked just fine for me for a few years until I needed room to try some other antennas.
your very lucky then. i am brand new into HF, just got my tech/general this past weekend and ordered a ft-450d. I live in an apartment and i must put my hf antenna in the attic. i am going to go with a 40meter fan dipole with legs for 20 and 10 meters. similiar to yours except fanned out. I know the attic kind of sucks but its the best i can do, at least i dont live on the first floor, then i would have zero options! any tips would be great, i have been researching a lot.
I did tie off one end to a tree and the other end to a roof vent, so it actually ended up in kind of an inverted V fashion. The tower is grounded well but you still never know, I have been lucky so far I guess over the last 20 plus years the tower has been up but yes, it could do a lot of damage if it took a direct hit. I have good neighbors so they don't mind the tower or anything. I do talk all over the world to many other countries when conditions are favorable.
I just used hot glue each time it passed through a hole in the spacer, that seems to work good and keeps it in the same place, been up all winter now and not any problems with that with all the wind here all the time.
Thanks Larry, another good video. It will be interesting to see if the weather tries to twist it a bit. Also great shot of the bird's eye view up on top. 73 KD8SKG Carl
Thanks, actually I am lucky, I have great neighbors and they don't mind my antennas at all, they know ham radio is a good thing for emergency coms so that is good. They are kind of fascinated by how it works it seems. So I am happy with that!
Nice video, I enjoyed watching. I want to build a multi-band dipole for SWL and I found your video really helpful. It proves to me, no matter your level of experience with the right components anyone can build a nice antenna. Again Thanks for sharing. 73's brian
Hi & Thanks for the Video.. Q- How do you terminate the end of each leg of wire as it passes through the pvc spacer. What holds the end of the wire to the spacer itself? thanks again..
Thanks. Hey, that is a very good idea, that sure would work and would be cheap and easy I would say. Never gave that a thought at the time but thanks for posting that here, might help some others out! 73..Larry
Thank you for posting this video im going to use it to make my antenna, Here is some info that might help others FAN DIPOLE OR MULTIPLE BAND DIPOLE SPECS: (Each leg is shown in length so you will need two legs.) 10 METERS = 8'4" 12 METERS = 9'5" 15 METERS = 11'1" 17 METERS = 12'10" 20 METERS = 16'8" 30 METERS = 23'2" 40 METERS = 32'9" 60 METERS = 43'7" 75 METERS = 60'9" 80 METERS = 65'6" 160 METERS = 123'5" 137 KHZ = 1708'1"
The way it is here it won't, but you can easily just add an 80 meter section to the antenna, full 80 meter dipole or trap dipole. Here it is just cut for 40 meters and up in freq from there.
I would say maybe a little more than that but close, it is not critical as long as you have them at least that but the more you can get them apart the less interaction they have on each other.
Bar-none the BEST lesson in the practicalities of antennas I have found yet...and I've been trying to understand how to use them for years. Brilliantly easy to understand, AND now I would actually be comfortable even building one.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
This is the best antenna video I’ve seen ! He explains everything so simple ..
It's now Oct 2024. You made this video 12 years ago! Look how many people you've helped, over the years. Me included. Just need to find those parts and I'm ready to build. Thanks.
Awesome video! All I have to say is there are a ton of instructional HAM videos here on UA-cam, but yours is one of the most professionally done. I find this video to be very informative. You speak clear and concise, and your camera angles are spot on. I can only dream about undertaking such a project. Unfortunately I don't currently have the resources at my disposal, and I live on the ground floor of a 3 story apartment building.
Thank you very much Steve and glad you enjoy the videos. They are fun to do and hopefully more to come soon! Thanks again.
I'm amazed at how easy you were able to teach stuff I couldn't make heads nor tales from when it was in print! Thanks for posting the vid!
Great video! One thing I would advise those doing this project; when making any wire antenna, I temporarily mount it on a pole in the yard before stringing it up high, this way you can trim or lengthen without climbing back up the tower.
Something to consider structurally, the solder removes any flexibility in the stranded copper wire. So make your solder connection away from a pivot point. That way it won't cause your wire to break over time with movement (wind etc.). 73's NG7I
This video is 8 years old but is very informative. Thank You for making it.
Built my 1st homebrew antenna using the inspiration from this video and got 3 DX contacts on 10 meters. Thanks so much for the video. It truly made it easy for my 1st antenna build. 73's W8BRY
Thanks Larry, looks like you've given me something to do when the spring arrives. I've often thought of making one of these antennas, but it makes it much easier when you have something to follow which isn't just a piece of paper.
Hello Larry- I just put up an 80 OCF feed through a homebrew 4:1 balun. It seems work, matches up nicely. Now with your video, I am going to take it down and add 3 more elements-40-20&10. With the limitations of my place this is perfect! Thanks so much for posting. I guess its out to the shop for me.....
I know it's 5 years in the rear view mirror but antenna design doesn't change over time. Thanks, great video and inspiration to "roll my own".
Thanks! I'm just trying to get up and running. My HF is sick, but it's out for some help, and a friend came over with his good stuff and we got a 20M wire up, but I think I'm going to add a 40M. This video is very detailed and shows me gauges, etc. I had the formula, but wasn't sure about the wire gauge, and the tie cable size. COOL! Thanks for a great video.
thank you for the video, it was extremely helpful in understanding dipoles and how the radiation pattern goes.
I'm new to all this.. You have excellent explanation skills.. I installed my dipole antenna yesterday night and its working just fine. Thanks to your video I had no problems.. Hello from Texas USA..👍👍👍👍
Best info yet that I have found regarding antenna builds. Thanks for bringing us along. I really like your console setup that’s some rig! Thanks again.
Yeah thanks ... good straight shooting info ... I appreciate that you said that one antenna is not 'better' than the other ... just different lobes doing a different job in different directions ... love that truth ...
Great visual! My house in Oklahoma sits on a diagonal and the hypotenuse of the roof is just over 63 feet with a roof vent right in the middle that I should be able to tie the center feed off to. With some stand offs on opposing corners of the house, I should be able to get that 65.9 feet out of it perfectly without having to stretch to any trees, which is nice since I have no trees. That will broadside me almost due east and west! Thanks for the video!
Excellent video. Timeless knowledge from an RF citizen scientist.
Sounds great, it should work very well for you, as good as a full size dipole on each band you cut it for and if you might not even need the tuner but if it is off a little the tuner will help to tweak it right in without needing to prune each wire as long as you are close. And you should be able to use on any band with tuner and it should work fine except on 160, still possible on 160 by just shorting center pin right at tuner and using separate ground wire for 160.
Lot of snow and cold in the winter and plenty of hot and humidity in the summer but I like summer the best, lot of changes in season here, one extreme to the other. Severe weather starts about April and goes through June for the most part with some tornadoes, hail and wind etc. I do have a few Uniden scanners as well as Radio Shack models from over the years.
Tip: I've been playing around with building antennas from scratch the last couple years and since we're already using "metric" for the wavelengths anyway, I decided to just DITCH the imperial tape measure for a metric one so I don't have to "convert" any measurements or deal with fractions or mess with converting 10ths of an inch to a fraction either. HOLY COW was that the BEST $8 I think I've ever spent on ham radio! Not only do you save the time it takes to convert measurements but it's also a HECK of a lot more precise, there's more increments "per inch" if you just use metric. Good video BTW, I keep debating whether or not to build one of these, but I'd need to make a "vertical" one for my quad band radio with 70cm/2m/6m/10m.
oh god, keep metric spreading! As a metric guy I hate any info in imperial... And most english sources are imperial :(
@@HardAxe yeah, HATE fractions. Hey how many feet in a mile? Ummm... 🤔dunno 3k something? Now how many many meters in a kilometer? 1000! [yeah, don't even have to be a Brit to figure that out...]
Many thanks again, Larry, for your prompt and informative reply. I don't know whether you get to Asia-Pacific at all, but if and when you visit Hong Kong be sure to let me know. Happy to extend accommodation and hospitality. All the best, Peter
Thanks Peter, it sure would be fun to visit. Never know I guess, maybe someday but I sure appreciate the hospitality. 73
Yes, it should work a little better than a G5RV antenna since it is a full quarter wave on each band, sure been working well here, no complaints. Although, for just a mono band dipole, the coaxial dipole might be a good choice, they are very broad banded.
Thanks for taking the time and making the effort to teach us novices.
That is what I say, usually you can make your own much cheaper than you can buy the same thing for and they work the same. Just depends on how much time you have to do it I guess. Thanks for the comment, appreciate it very much! 73,,,Larry
Great video, Larry! I really appreciate how you make all of your videos easy to understand, especially for a new guy like me. Thanks and 73!
Thank you Sean, I appreciate that very much and am glad they can be of help for you! More to come pretty soon again. 73
I really like the desk also, works out great, I had a friend build it from my design years ago.
Great presentation! Been contemplating this antenna for 17,15,10 & 6. You convinced me to try it. Thanks, K1GMM
I always enjoy your videos. This inspired me to re-read the ARRL ant book. I really like what you did here. Thanks for posting.
Thank you for the details you kindly provided in your video! Using hot glue to hold the spreaders in the right location was solved the issue with my antenna! Thanks again
Nice antenna setup, great video. I was impressed with your antenna setup...your shack looks great. Nice layout.
I got my dipole installed in the attic yesterday. I am not sure how its going to work, I should have it up and running today (i am still setting up my station equipment). Unfortunately I dont have an antenna analyzer but i think i might put it on my to buy list. I had to run a lot of my dipole legs real close to each other, some may even touch at places. On a cooler day I will go back up to the attic and move them to a better location. Will report back after I try it!
Sounds good, with an OCF antenna, not sure how it would work adding extra elements to that, have not tried so you might want to look into that a little more, but if you just build a dipole the same as I did here, it has been working very well for me. I also have an OCF dipole and I switch back and forth for the one that gives me the best signal in the direction I am talking.
thanks and hopefully you can find the noise, try using an AM portable radio and walking around the area or shutting off circuit breakers to your house one at a time. Thanks for the post! 73..Larry
Larry this has been the most instructional and comprehensive video I have watched anywhere so far on the problem of getting a n antenna up and running. My problem still is the HOA I'm in I need a stealth hf ant. lol have a great day.
Patrick Kerr Thanks Patrick, appreciate that!
Patrick Kerr I have a M.F.J. loop. Only 3 a foot circle. A little to heavy to move in and out every day but some guy's do and some put it in there attic. Yahoo has a group for it you might check it out. It is a bit pricey.
leo sav I just got a mfj 1625- just have to figure out how to put it together and up. not many instructions with it. My next project is the Homemade Loop The MFJ one is really too expensive for me. lol
leo sav I made my own mag loop, in about that same size - I used the air variable tuner capacitor from an old Hallicrafters S-38 receiver, and it works well for listening - it could be used also for QRP transmitting, but I have not tried that yet. Basically a loop of LMR600 cable for the main loop, with a small loop of LMR400. It will tune 80 meters and all the way up past 20 meters. Just tune for maximum noise on the band you want to work. I am in an apartment and listen to 3913 KHz every night...
Paul Thompson Nice videos Larry - I watch all of them I can find - probably quite a few I haven't found yet.
Thank you Larry your very welcome, and thanks once more for having posted the video in the first place. I do have a question if i may, Would it be ok to make some kind of center feed point like you have but longer so that it is the depth of all the bands of dipoles. Then for me to have terminals for each band and run coax up the inside with branches of to each set of terminals for each band so that the dipoles do not all bunch up together at the feed point,
Glad to hear that. Thank you and glad you enjoy the videos, should be doing more again in the future here. 73 and good DX!
Yes, that works great, I have seen many done that way. Not a problem at all to do it that way.
Great job. Nice editing, stays to the facts, useful!
Thank you very much Paul!
RadioHamGuy I have a Browning Golden Eagle for if you're interested or know somebody else interested I'm selling it for $300 please reply
I miss you
Yes it is about being as high up as you can go with it, but it will still make plenty of contacts at a low height. It will just not be as good for longer distances and DX if closer to the ground. It will actually work better for stations within a few hundred miles when lower to the ground since it radiates higher into the air instead of a low angle take off so signal is reflected down from the sky closer in. Stations farther away may still hear you, just not as strong as having it up higher.
I think I tied a knot at the very end of each leg of the dipoles at the last spacer but on the spacers that are not at the end I just used the hot glue, it held very secure and if it did come lose, I don't think the spacers will move around much anyhow. No problems with mine yet and it works just fine, I would think it would work better than a G5RV on the bands you cut if for since it is a full size dipole on those bands but I have not compared it to a G5RV I guess so can't say for sure.
I know what you mean about seeing something live or by video, much easier than on paper! The antenna has been working very well here, good luck with your project!
great video, you're a wonderful instructor and detailed builder.
Really nicely done and instructional for us amateurs
Thank you for your video, you are such a wonderful teacher!!!
Give that a try, it should work ok, the swr might be a little tricky but if you have tuner, should be no problem. Won't be quite as good as up in the clear but at least it should get you on the air and making contacts. Might pick up a little more noise also and you might want to run lower power if you have RF problems. Another option might be a wire loop antenna as long as possible with an auto couple type tuner right in the attic connected directly to antenna.
like those ranch style homes, do you have much seveare weather in the spring and summer months? and I am sure plenty of cold ans snowy weather in the winter. cool radio board you got, have any uniden scanners too???
I made one for 160m-75m (half wave) and it works great. I just added a Balun Designs 1:1 to the center and will be adding 60m. I did not bother with insulators and just strung the legs out at different angles from the tower. I also keep a "balun pully" on my Rohn 25's hazer for easy up and down of the dipole from the ground. You will always need a tuner for broadband operation of these dipoles. 73
what a terrific video.wow talk about a great antenna making vid-that was it.same view from the tower as the view from the state fair on those sky trolley cars you rode on.that was cool seeing the view from the tower.much learned.and many thanks for the effort.lots of hard work on your part.thats a nice set-up wow.A+ video.
happy DXing and 73,KB3YJO davy
Great video - thanks for the insight on the choke - I am going to make one for 20, 10, (and should be able to tune up for 11 for recieve) and 6, as thats all I can throw up in my limited yard space. Sick of noisy verticals!
Thanks and good luck with your antenna, should work great. Now I know who you are on here too, lol, So great to see you on here, I did watch your uploaded videos before, they were great, I just didn't know it was you at the time but now I do with your call sign!
The fan dipole uses way more wire than a good OCDF- Off Center Fed Dipole. The standard configuration to start with is 90x45, and use a balun Design OCFD balun for the best results. That balun is marked as to which side the longe element goes to, so make sure you get the correct balun. I can work 2M .70CM, 6M, 10M, 12M, 17M, 18M, 20M, 40M, and a smart part of 80M on my OCFD using no tuner. If I use the Tuner, it helps on some bands that have a narrow window of use. In all cases, the antenna works really well.
The fan dipole has a few things it can do due to the proximity of the elements to each other. The only bad thing that can happen is to generate harmonics.
I think I'll try building your fan dipole antenna. I guess it'll be much more fun than just building one with a never used ICOM MN-100 antenna matcher I've got stored for a long time. Thanks for your time and dedication. 73 from PY5WHO, Brazil.
Hi there, WOW !! what a great video, for a keen listener but with fairly limited knowledge like myself, this was great stuff, I see you have a Realistic Pro-2006 too, I've had mine since new prob 20yrs ago and still I'd say one of the best for day to day listening. Another subscriber just clicked !!
Thanks, and yes, I have had my Pro-2006 probably for about the same amount of time and it is still working although the display is dim, normal problem with those, there is a place you can get new displays out there I have seen. 73 and thanks again for the post...Larry
Thanks, well the cost really depends on what you might have on hand but the most cost would be the coax cable depending on how much you needed to get to the shack and the wire for the antenna, but you don't really need anything special for wire, just something that will hold up over time. The PVC I used was very inexpensive, just a few dollars for all.
Awesome project👍planning on taking my ham licence exam soon. Very useful information for a novice like me all the best my good friend👍
Thanks and good luck on the exam, you will have a lot of fun with radio I am sure! 73
Yes, you are correct, thanks for pointing that out, full half wave!..Larry
Since my antenna was so close to start with I just left it so I can't tell you from first hand experience on the fan type dipole but if I were to start, I would probably start with the longest leg and work down from there, since each one can effect the other, you may have to go back another time for fine tuning a little but I wouldn't think it would be much.
Cool vid. I like the dipole, they're pretty simple. Looks like it works great
Yes, that tuner should work very well with this antenna to tweak things in.
Awesome video, awesome tower and antenna array! Nice house too! Laughs! Oh and the shack goes without saying, stay warm up there in the land of the lakes! Thanks 73 KR7SWG
Roger Thunderhands Gilbert Thanks a lot Roger, appreciate it very much! 73 and have fun with radio!...Larry
Wow! One hell of a tower and antenna setup! Nice job. I may try to put something like this up on the top of my roof which is pretty long.Thanks for sharing. 73
Thanks PelDaddy, glad it could be of help. It is an antenna that works very well. 73...Larry
How much do things like houses in the way affect the height off the ground? In other words, if I mount this at the apex of my long roof will it be similar to mounting it two stories off the ground, or more like the inches off the roof? I am going to order the ARRL antenna book. New ham here... Maybe someday I get a tower, but the spousal unit would not approve until we move houses. Thanks. 73
It will be like the height above ground but the house will effect it a little bit. If you have a metal roof, that is different, then it will effect it a lot. But with a normal roof, just get it as much above the roof as you can. Just get something up in the air and make contacts and you can always make changes later on as need be. The antenna book is a great investment. Congrats on being a new ham also!! Good luck and have fun with radio. 73
Thanks so much for the replies. Great info. Can't wait until my callsign appears in the database so I cans start transmitting. I am about ready to take the General test as well to work the HF bands. The EE stuff is easy for me but have to know the bands and regs, etc. Thanks again. 73
I guess I don't know what are available for sure these days on autocouplers but they are probably more expensive than just a shack tuner since they are remoted, MFJ might be lower cost if they have one, then you could just make your own loop around the perimeter of the attic possibly using standard wire, another idea might be a magnetic loop antenna with remote tuning. They work well in small space. Just some added ideas, but I would try what you have first, much lower cost and may work fine.
Easy to follow, detailed video. Great work.
Planning to buy my first HT radio, an FT-450D, along with a G5RV.
But now I may try to build this antenna, instead of buying G5.
Roger, Trinidad & Tobago.
9Z3RM (TTO), KK4NAD (USA).
I am kind of wondering about that twist also, was thinking maybe I should have shot a little of that hot glue into the bottom of each pvc insulator section to weight the bottom of each one down just a touch to keep it down if you know what I mean.
Just came across this and have to say that this is a great video!
Thank you for sharing, its great to see some real detail in making a dipole :D Im only a listener to the airwaves but still enjoy the technical involvement required to get results :D
Love your equipment bench!
Thanks again :)
Very Helpful. You are a great teacher. Thank you so much.
New sub here. I am originally from northern Minnesota. I see you mentioned being from MN. Just passed my Tech & General rest this weekend. Now I have a license to learn. Haha. I am planning on building a fan dipole myself.
Congratulations on the new ticket! That is great to hear. The learning still goes on for me, never ends so glad you got started in the hobby. I am from southern MN, Albert Lea. 73 and have fun with radio.
@@RadioHamGuy hey there. I am just now getting putting my HF in the shack. I am going to do a fan dipole on inverted v and branch out to a vertical and loop maybe. What bands are best to setup for? Are you still using this? Oh we usually drive right through Albert Lea on our trips to northern Minnesota. This year we are staying put in Texas. I will miss my Minnesota family. Who knows when this pandemic is in our past maybe we could have a cup of coffee along I-35 one day. 73!
@@brentjohnson6654 Hi Brent, that is nice to hear you have family in MN and go by my town here on the way. Yes, hopefully next year will be a better year and we can get done with this stuff. I don't have this antenna up anymore, I am always switching things around but it did work very well, now I have another off center fed antenna up in place of that. Right now your best bet would be antennas for 20 and 40 meters but soon you will probably want something up for 10 and 15 as well as the sunspots get underway. 73 and good luck, sounds like you are getting set up well. Have fun with radio....Larry
@@RadioHamGuy thanks I am now looking at 3 bands 20,40, and maybe 17. I am also looking to put up a vertical like the DX commander to get better reach and more bands maybe. Yes hope to be done with the worst of this virus. Back to antennas, I get that you change things around. That is the appeal of this science hobby to me. Thanks for your response and hope to see you on the air soon. 73 de KI5HXM
@@brentjohnson6654 Sounds great and yes, I should have mentioned 17 meters also, that is a great band right now and should be for the coming years. I don't know why that band slipped my mind.
I was curious as you progressed on the video, how you were going to string out/ hang your wires? either from some sort of mast/ or stay..........so it looks like you just tied it off by some other wire to a tree and you said a roof vent? And after seiing your mast/tower the neighbors know you are the ham nut! hope you have that tower grounded very well!! expensive toys to replace if lightning strikes. so how far can you transmitt?
Sounds great, thanks for the good tips. Yes, I have used the W2AU baluns also, good stuff.
Thank you for putting in all the effort to make this video. I'm learning and it's great to see someone build from scratch - I prefer that to buying off the shelf, just the DIY demon I'm possessed by I suppose
Appreciate you taking the time and doing this video.
Great job. Good information.
Very informative.
Thank you Rufus477
Thanks, that is very good to hear!
You did a very good job describing und illustrating the construction of the antenna! I'm just still a bit unsure of how to tighten the radiators of the antenna at the center feed point of the antenna. I'm scared i won't manage to make the antenna strong enough to keep hanging.
Very good work and your explanation! For a beginner, like me, learned well! Thanks!
Just build one like this and sounds good now all I need to do is find out where I am getting this s7-9 noise time to make a beam and walk around the neighborhood. Thanks for the simple clear instructions. Maybe after I can get this noise out of the way I can actually get active on the radio.
KF5PVM
Larry, thanks for the idea... Used your tips to make mine. Hope to work you on the air fan to fan!!! 73s and keep the videos coming!!! Bill N2NDF
Hope it is going ok, antenna analyzer can be a big help, I use mine all the time.
Very cool. Thanks for sharing the process.
Thanks! My ft-450d comes with an auto tuner but it can only handle 3:1 SWR and below. I am thinking of getting another external tuner in case the auto tuner cant handle it. I was looking at the wire loop anteannas with the auto couple type tuner's but assuming I was looking at the right thing, they were like over $400...
Sounds great Bill, hope it works well for you and maybe work you on the air some day, 73..
Sounds like the noise is probably coming from some very local things in the house, you might see if you can pinpoint it to something to try to cut the noise down maybe, could be coming from computers or light dimmers or that kind of thing. Or maybe just a lot of things too, then it would be hard to get rid of. I use a pocket AM transistor radio and walk around the area to find the noise sources, tuned to no station.
Any updates on the multi band dipole?
No updates other than it worked great for me for a long time and then I took it down to try some other experiments, but I did love the fan dipole antenna. Worked just fine for me for a few years until I needed room to try some other antennas.
your very lucky then. i am brand new into HF, just got my tech/general this past weekend and ordered a ft-450d. I live in an apartment and i must put my hf antenna in the attic. i am going to go with a 40meter fan dipole with legs for 20 and 10 meters. similiar to yours except fanned out. I know the attic kind of sucks but its the best i can do, at least i dont live on the first floor, then i would have zero options! any tips would be great, i have been researching a lot.
I did tie off one end to a tree and the other end to a roof vent, so it actually ended up in kind of an inverted V fashion. The tower is grounded well but you still never know, I have been lucky so far I guess over the last 20 plus years the tower has been up but yes, it could do a lot of damage if it took a direct hit. I have good neighbors so they don't mind the tower or anything. I do talk all over the world to many other countries when conditions are favorable.
I just used hot glue each time it passed through a hole in the spacer, that seems to work good and keeps it in the same place, been up all winter now and not any problems with that with all the wind here all the time.
Thanks Larry, another good video. It will be interesting to see if the weather tries to twist it a bit. Also great shot of the bird's eye view up on top.
73
KD8SKG
Carl
Thanks, actually I am lucky, I have great neighbors and they don't mind my antennas at all, they know ham radio is a good thing for emergency coms so that is good. They are kind of fascinated by how it works it seems. So I am happy with that!
Nice video, I enjoyed watching. I want to build a multi-band dipole for SWL and I found your video really helpful. It proves to me, no matter your level of experience with the right components anyone can build a nice antenna. Again Thanks for sharing. 73's brian
Hi & Thanks for the Video..
Q- How do you terminate the end of each leg of wire as it passes through the pvc spacer. What holds the end of the wire to the spacer itself?
thanks again..
Thanks. Hey, that is a very good idea, that sure would work and would be cheap and easy I would say. Never gave that a thought at the time but thanks for posting that here, might help some others out! 73..Larry
Thank you for posting this video im going to use it to make my antenna, Here is some info that might help others FAN DIPOLE OR MULTIPLE BAND DIPOLE SPECS:
(Each leg is shown in length so you will need two legs.)
10 METERS = 8'4"
12 METERS = 9'5"
15 METERS = 11'1"
17 METERS = 12'10"
20 METERS = 16'8"
30 METERS = 23'2"
40 METERS = 32'9"
60 METERS = 43'7"
75 METERS = 60'9"
80 METERS = 65'6"
160 METERS = 123'5"
137 KHZ = 1708'1"
Well done - Very clean build.
+Warren Allred Thanks Warren!
You are a specialist..very good
Excellent and thorough discussion. Thanks!
Merci pour votre description pleine de bons conseils
73's to France
Best regards
The way it is here it won't, but you can easily just add an 80 meter section to the antenna, full 80 meter dipole or trap dipole. Here it is just cut for 40 meters and up in freq from there.
Another great video. Many thanks.
Your video breaks it down very well.
Off to the home center ...
73
Thanks and good luck with the project, they do work well, just like the ones you can purchase for a lot more money.
Good job. I'm making one at the moment. How close are the different wires to each other? About 2 inches or a little more?
I would say maybe a little more than that but close, it is not critical as long as you have them at least that but the more you can get them apart the less interaction they have on each other.
thanks, yes, I try to just tell it like it is...each has it's own advantages I guess, just depends on the direction and angle etc..