3 Cheap Wire Antennas for New Ham Radio Operators

At the time I watched there was under 50 views. A shame because the technical content is exceptional.

I have learned a ton from your antenna modelling videos, thank you for making them. I just built a fan dipole after watching one of your older videos about them. Dropped my noise floor from S6 on my end fed random wire to S3, with no perceivable dip in signal strength on received signals. I've only been in the hobby for a little over year, and having people like you making content like this has been a huge boost to my learning. Thanks again.

very helpful Callum. I need to watch a few times to let it sink in my brain. lol

You explain things so marvelously and simply, with a bit of tech thrown in but you don't know it because the way you explain things. I've been a ham for a while yet I know just the tip of all this. Love watching your videos!

Building antennas are the FUN part of the hobby! Im taking my license mostly to be able to test my antennas....

Callum, I don't know about the UK, but in the US a good cheap wire for antennas is 14 ga THHN. This is insulated stranded wire. 14 ga is 1.6 mm. 12 ga is 2.05 mm. For a permanent installation THHN is fine, but it is stiff and wants to coil and kink, so is a problem for portable antennas. For that I prefer 14 ga MTW... Machine Tool Wire. It is not as stiff and rolls up, unrolls, lays out nicely. MTW is what you might find in a washing machine or dryer, or in automotive wiring. I did just what you said, bought a 500' spool (152 meters) of 14 ga MTW. It was cheap because the spool was cracked. I made it hold together with a scrap piece of 3/8" dia threaded rod, some fender washers, and nuts. Only other thing, it was purple wire. Who cares? Great for experimenting!

I would like to see a 70cm triangle antenna build or mock up with that program

Thanks Calum back at it. Outstanding

Nice video! Antenna building is in my future! Thanks for the very informational video! Great to see the graphics!!

I wish I could spend a week with you building antennas. I’d buy the chips and beer.

Another great video, very informative. That software is a load of fun to play with and takes a lot of the guesswork out of setting up antennas.

you explain things so well, you bring really hard concepts down to the basics and all that matters. I love your "bananas:.

Happy to been back hope you get all backups back greetz from holland callum

This brought back memories, making so many (literally 100's of) wire antennas decades ago for ham radio. That simulation software would have been KILLER, but PC hardware was just an idea back then. Thanks!

Thank you,Callum! That video summed up my experience. I have had great success with the triangle up at 1 wavelength on 20 Meters and it gets out great and receives great! So cool. Thank you!

This so great stuff. New to Ham, got my General license a few weeks ago. KQ4CHG 73 and out.

Well...I see you've planned my lunch break for today and tomorrow... Good stuff as usual, thank you. (And there is a transcript.. very cool)

Great stuff, Calum, thanks a lot!

Glad to see you back on Cal =)

Thanks for reposting this!