HF Antennas - Getting Started

If you're looking at HF antennas, then it's assumed by now you have your General or Amateur Extra License (congrats!!)  and have a basic understanding of why different antennas are needed for HF and VHF/UHF bands as well as a knowledge of basic connections, coax, and SWR/Impedance/inductance/resonance/capacitance etc.  

At this point you're going to need to be working with an Elmer (someone who helps you with your ham) and be either be adept at doing research online, or actively involved with a club to help you. This entry is only intended to get you pointed in the right direction. (I mostly learned online, and then with others, and with a lot of trial and error). There's no way around the learning requirement.  Ham is about being self-taught, trial and error, a lot of learning, and a lot of testing.  Think what you're prepping for though, if you want to be ready for anything, you'll need these skills and knowledge. No exceptions.  But!! Like millions of other hams, you can learn! 

HF Antennas do not* have to be expensive, nor do they require a massive tower in the back yard nor does it require a massive yard. A fully functioning, global-capable antenna can be built for less than $150 (and many for way less than that). 

My main consideration is cost, and also portability.  I have an antenna that's set up at home, but I also have three different ones I've built or bought that I can set up in the field.

However, they do require a bit of equipment to set them up - get your own bit by bit, or go to a ham club, they will have them. 

You are going to need a network analyzer/SWR meter. 

 These run from inexpensive to expensive. 

The inexpensive version is the Nano VNA (Vector Network Analyzer). You will probably have to buy an adaptor as the connectors for the Nano VNA is an SMA adaptor, and your antenna will have an SO239 or PL259 connector.

Nano VNA

 These run about $30-$50 online.  

There's also the Rig-Expert, just make sure this goes to the frequencies you need.  I watched on e-Bay until I found one or a pretty decent price used, because brand-new, these are pretty high-end, and there pretty expensive. However this is going to be a permanent piece of equipment and investment into your communication capabilities. Just make sure that it covers the frequencies that you're going to need it be covered for.

Rig Expert Stick

Rig Expert Full Size

You are also going to need to buy some coax. This can be bought in bulk online, I have a lot of RG58 on hand for my own station.

You'll need coax and electrical connectors (not all coax is created equal, I bought mine off Amazon).

You'll need soldering kit and equipment. 

Coax cutting tools. 

Connector crimping tools if you're going to do crimping versions of connectors. 

You'll want weather strip / tape for protecting joints from weather. 

When it comes to your antenna you can buy OR MAKE the following:

A dipole:

 

 An end-fed half-wave, half-sloper antenna (I made one out of an electric fence wire and use it for ERC). 

A vertical - like the Wolf River Coil (requires tuning to change bands using your analyzer, as well as ground radials - I have one of these, it's a "fair weather" antenna, any wind over 3-5mph and it tipping over becomes an issue if you don't secure it to the ground).

You can buy or make a Tactical Delta Loop:

And for those of you within an HOA or other issues, there's the gutter mount antenna where you make your gutter into an antenna:

There's also the DX Commander (buy or make):

For QRP (low power) I have also used a kite-string-holder end-fed antenna: 

And there are many, many, many more. 

I have used, or communicated with all of these in the field.  There isn't any one "best" for all situations antenna. 

Right now, for HF I'm partial to the Tactical Delta Loop in the field (I made it with some fishing poles and wire) because I don't have to run radials and I can put it in the ground and I've had success with it on 80-20m. You can buy them pre-made as well.  I think my homemade one is a bit more robust for heavy use and a bit of accidental abuse over the long-term.

I made it for ~$110 total (the fishing poles were the expensive part). 

I like it because I can set it up at the church as an HF command post within about 10 minutes and take it down in about 5. I don't have to worry about it blowing over with anything more than a light breeze.  I don't have to put wires up in trees etc. I use the Wolf River Coil for my 2m/70cm communications for ERC in the field - when used for 2m/70cm I don't have to have it up so high as I do for HF and so it blowing over in a +3mph wind isn't an issue because I only set it up to be about 5-6 feet high. I home-made two 4" PVC pipes with caps on them and put straps on them to carry my antennas in. I like it because it's easy, looks sleek, and does a great job.

And at home I have an end-fed made of electric fence wire that I had to loop back around in a U-shape because I'm limited on room and guess what? It works! 

One of our hams has the Gutter-Antenna and he does just fine on HF and we hear him perfectly well!

You may want to get an antenna tuner, local or remote externals, or use a transceiver that has one built in - all of which can be acquired bit-by-bit.

At any rate, if you're feeling overwhelmed, don't be - you'll figure it out step-by-step as we all do until you know what you're doing.  None of us knows everything, and we're always learning. You will have to do some troubleshooting, and this is where you run with the others.  

Some tips: 

Figure out how much you have to spend. 

Figure out what your space will allow. 

Figure out what you're going to be using it for (mobile, home-base, set-up or take-down, field ops, etc.).

Don't get hung up on appearances - you don't have to have the cool looking tower that costs a few thousand. 

Get with an Elmer or start looking up online how to make one, or start shopping around to get the parts used, and have at it. 

If it works, it works!  If it doesn't, figure it out until you make it work! 

If I had known what I was doing and had gotten more help early on versus trying to go it alone the entire time, I could have literally had my antenna up in a single day - but I had to figure it out, and it took a while, mostly over hemming and hawing over the type, and trying to figure out how to get the length I needed to make it resonant before I realized I could just experiment with making my antenna U-shaped to get the length within the space. 

'73.