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Great job thanks for sharing this video 73 from kb2uew

Great video, KK6USY Ham Radio Adventures. Looking forward to your next upload! I smashed that thumbs up icon on your content. Keep up the awesome work! Your innovative use of the rivnut tool is fascinating. Have you considered any alternatives for those who might not have access to specialized tools for similar projects?

Great info!!

Excellent use of a RivNut and one I had never thought of! 👍👍

excellent project a must for any poto/sota bag

I have a rivnut tool but only for 6-32 and 8-32 screws. I use that size in aircraft installs alot. Thanks for the videos Chuck! 73

Nice work Chuck 👍

Great advice, Chuck. I'm always learning something new from you. I'll buy you a coffee at Pete's sometime.

Those rivnuts are great Chuck. I looked at those for the coaxial feed on the hexheam a while back.

That's an easy build!

Definitely a great project! DE WA1KLI

Thanks for your input ke4hpq

What’s up with the pure signal. They all sound the same and don’t tell me it produces more power, we have run without that marketing crap for years

41’ radiator and 17’ counterpoise?

Thanks Chuck. I do find the fishing pole holder solution much better here when there is wet soil. A single spike with a 33' mast just falls over so it needs to be guyed. The double spike holds better and you just step on it to get it into the ground. However, I can totally see the other solution for a backpack.

You really get a better understanding of bands and how RF works once you build your first antenna, especially if you have to tune it to resonance. Once you have those fundamentals in your head, you can start building your own antennas and see what's good or bad about your own design and make improvements!

Nice. I bought some Riv-nuts for a project years ago before I found a better solution. I like the DIY tool and the reminder to just screw in a sacrificial bolt.

6 seconds in. Yes, hams should make their own antennas. Baluns and ununs too eventually. Early hams built their own radio, just to get on the air. With the exception of the magmount on my truck, I've built all my antennas. It's not hard. Currently vertical ground plane for 2 meter and 70 centimeter. Dipoles and long wire (with balun) for HF. Good point on the securing of the toroid. I'm going to seek some rubber to sandwich with in the box. Small enough to not build up heat, large enough to actually hold it wedged in the box without messing up the lid seal.

Most people buy a transceiver but there is no reason to not build your own aerials. Wire is cheap. I built my five attic 20m to 10m dipoles, 60m band inverted vee and 4 element 2m end fed collinear and mag. loop. I built a copy of a Joystick which is an inductance on an insulated pole with a 25 foot long wire feeding it through a tuner. I was given a 6m dipole and recently a 2m dipole and thinking I might extend it for 4m (70 MHz). Years ago I built a 5 el Yagi for 2m and 3 el for 70 MHz. I have a NANO VNA now so it's easy to see if an aerial is too short or too long. Much easier than with just an SWR meter as I used to do. G4GHB.

Making home brew antennas for me is one of the most satisfying aspects of the hobby. 73’s KB3ZWR

Not only should you make your own antenna you should also build your own radio and you should also build your own mic and headphones. You're not a real ham if you don't.

I built my own cobweb. Talked all over with it! VA3IRF

Made a 40-10 portable delta loop that takes names.

Building is fun Chuck, 73s from Dubai

It's a do it yourself hobbie. I make my own as well as help others. My topped J-pole on 2M outperforms the F23H. I like being able to do better than commercial products on ,y own.

nothing better than making a contact on an antenna you made yourself .

Big fan of building antennas. It’s fun and usually not too complicated.

I just built a 3/4 wave 10 meter antenna today, no coil, super bandwidth, just in time for the 10 m dx Contest. I built a EFHW and have worked asia QRP. that is my prefered way to operate, I built my own 4 element 6 meter beam, I built my own stacked horiaonal loops for 2 meters. HELL YES BUILD YOUR ANTENNAS AND ENJOY.

Only if you want to an it floats your boat.

Not having actually seen the video yet, just from reading the thumbnail, the answer is yes! First licensed sometime in the last century, my first antenna was a quarter wave vertical for 2 meters. It was made from a couple of steel coat hangers and a SO-239 from Radio Shack. I didn't think I was ever going to get the solder to stick to steel. But it did. The thing worked great. And, cost next to nothing. Even today, #$% years later, my main antenna is a homemade fan dipole. Again, inexpensive and does the job well. There is a certain feeling of pride of accomplishment when you get that antenna in the air, tuned to perfection, and you make that first QSO.

One of my favorite aspects of amateur radio is building antennas I’ve built dipoles, Verticals, Yagis, Quads, End feds, ect. Many worked perfectly, and just as many, not so good! But with a few tweaks here and there I can usually achieve decent results. Experimentation is half the fun! And I encourage every operator out there to at least try! I do a lot of camping and radio myself. Along with an analyzer the various connectors and such. I always have cheap Harbor Freight VOM with me. It’s gotten me out of antenna problems many a time.

you should build one or two for sure, be able to do it.. understand the way to do it. but its fine to purchase high quality ones as well, once you know the basics of operation.

Built my first 2 antennas and bought 1. Will be building my 10m vertical and horizontal dipoles for this weekends ARRL 10m contest. Using 16awg speaker wire for my homebuilt ones. Have 250ft of 20awg wire coming for the next set of builds. Absolutely enjoy the act of building and setting up "my" antennas. 73 KJ5FWC

I have bought a few Yagi antennas over a span of 60 years. They were cheaper than buying the parts. They were also very large antennas. The vast majority of my antennas have been homemade. It’s frankly hard to beat a dipole on 40 meters and above as you can get it reasonably high very easily. My best antenna ever was probably my 80 meter half square. For 160 it’s the approximately 165 foot inverted L. I find that if I have three homemade dipoles pointing in different direction on a switch I am almost as good as when I had my full size four element 20 meter Yagi at 70 feet. The cost of wire, coax and a remote switch is nothing compared to the expense of a 70 foot tower and a large Hy-gain mono bander. Rotors are not cheap either. Not to mention the effort involved to install and maintain the big antenna! Antennas is one thing we can still build in ham radio and we should all know how to do it.

Building antennas is super fun. Finding an interesting plan or coming up with your own then having it work is a great feeling. I have bought a few antennas but have built way more, especially wire antennas. I build my own 49:1 transformers for EFHW because this is my favorite home built antenna. I've built loading coils and feed points for dipoles and inverted V's. Lots of plans and instruction on TH-cam so don't be afraid to try.

When using spade lugs Put some dielectric grease and theyll always pull apart and snap together

I have found that my home built antennas work much better and more reliable than commercial built antennas

Yes & no, We should build our own antenna as I feel it's in the spirit of the hobby. The no part not everyone can for whatever reason so those that can need to help also in the spirit of the hobby.

Not ALLL hams have the mechanical ability to do that

Every ham should build at least some of their antennas. You learn so much and have some pride in what you built. Chuck, keeping it real as always. Thanks for what you do Chuck. The channels that pimp everything new that comes out for clicks and so often lie by omission drive me crazy. 73

I think a couple of spot of High Temp RTV for the back of the toroid to sit in. i have used that for some of aviation electronics I used to help build. Thanks for the videos Chuck! 73

I think every Ham should be able to build their own antennas. Beam antennas ok not so easy. but dipoles, verticals, Fan Dipoles, and end feds are so simple and saves you so much money. Kits are fine. You get everything you need and you learn just how easy it really is!

Nice work Chuck 👍

Keep up the great work!

Lil bit of hot glue should be good enough ??

As it snapped

No earth connection

Yes you should that’s what it is all about. The pride when you chat across the world on a antenna you have made 👍🏻🇬🇧

Yes you should that’s what it is all about. The pride when you chat across the world on a antenna you have made 👍🏻🇬🇧

I hate building antennas. Hate it. I’m not a crafter, builder, or home brewer.