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What is your favorite brand of antennas
- Thread starter Bandit14
- Start date
Homemade is my favorite antenna brand !
Homemade wire antennas cost nothing to make and often outperform expensive brand name antennas !
There's Dipoles, Inverted V's, Delta Loops, Wire Beams, Skyloops and many other kinds of wire antennas that can be easily put together out of wire and scrap bits. There are plans for all these and more on the internet.
Homemade wire antennas cost nothing to make and often outperform expensive brand name antennas !
There's Dipoles, Inverted V's, Delta Loops, Wire Beams, Skyloops and many other kinds of wire antennas that can be easily put together out of wire and scrap bits. There are plans for all these and more on the internet.
Mine has been up through some massive storms and it's fine. It wasn't that hard to build and tune for a first time beam antenna builder.
pt99. cheap, works, made it through 70mph breeze. lots may laugh, but it works just fine for me. seen lots of people upset about their expensive antennas. homebrew might be your best bet according to lots of folks
My favorite brand of antenna is the one that works!
I have many different flavors that work well so i guess they're all my favorite. In the past I've owned a few that worked just so so and got replaced so I guess those weren't my favorite.
I have many different flavors that work well so i guess they're all my favorite. In the past I've owned a few that worked just so so and got replaced so I guess those weren't my favorite.
An A-99 is my second antenna. They are cheap, work every time with a good match, and are surprisingly resistant to wind.
I live on a coastal island in British Columbia, and we get hurricane force winds in the winter that regularly shred antennas, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to put up an enormous expensive beam........it wouldn't even last two years before getting destroyed. That's why I use homemade wire antennas and an A-99 !
I've worked over 75 countries using those types of antennas and less than 150 watts SSB.
Falcon 11 Meter Dipole mounted in an Inverted V configuration in the attic less than 20 feet off the ground for the last 15 years. I have talked to just about every state in the US and many foreign countries with less than 150 watts. Can't ask for much more from an antenna that cost less than $30.00 back in 2009. I hope everyone has a great Sunday.
I remember seeing the falcon antennas on ebay back many moons ago and hadn't even heard of them until reading your post. A place I bought from several times back then had them too. Pacific Radios out of California, not sure if they even still exist.
Ditto homebrew. Especially wire antennas. Huge amount of formulae and/or calculators online. Tiny bit of math, some wire. An almost infinite choice of feedpoint and end insulators (a $5 plastic cutting board from WallyWorld). If fortunate enough to have an analyzer, tune it down to a gnat's arse. And learn while you do it. Can't see paying someone $$$ to do that for me. Work the world with wire.
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When I was on 11 meter I bought antennas, since abandoning CB in 1990 and going full time ham I build my Antennas.
I like both homemade and store-bought antennas. But Im more proud of the homemade antennas I've built, especially if someone gives flowers about my signal. You can make a homemade antenna as cheap or expensive as you'd like. I've got $300 in my homemade co phased ground plane after I upgraded everything to SS 102 whips. I've got a 4 element delta loop I'm waiting on from SmarTech so hopefully this will become a favorite