Ham Radio - The simple coax cable emergency prepper antenna.

Kevin, I watched this video a few years ago, and really got interested in making antennas. Havent stopped yet. Thank you for much a clear understanding of a video. A+

Made a dozen of these for members of our search and rescue group. Everyone carried one in their pack along with 50ft of paracord to hoist it into a tree for height. They work excellent!

Back in the 60s I remember My Dad using something along these lines when we went camping. He used large clamp-on fishing weights instead of a bolt.

This works great I hit a repeater 50 miles away! I love it.

I had a homebrew 2-meter antenna that was constructed with an SO-239 and (5) lengths of solid wire. I had it mounted about (12) feet up on the side of my house. I knew it would work, but I was surprised at just how well it worked. It was nearly free to build, only took a few minutes, and it would probably have taken a tornado to bring it down. It was there, and still working perfectly for over twenty years. I finally rented the house, and for all I know, it's still there! If only HF antennas were that easy. lol Thanks for the video. A new subscriber here.

After stripping out the coax inner, check the length of the empty braid! I guarantee it will be about 120% longer than the inner, if you have accidentally pulled it flat! Answer?: compare the length to the inner and snip off any excess braid! The VSWR is also helped by dressing the coax at a right angle to the line made by the inner/braid, and putting a few giant ferrite beads over the coax sleeve at the feed point (can often be stolen from old computer video/USB leads!). Both help to prevent the coax feeder radiating and spoiling the SWR.

well done! that video really opened my eyes to the simplicity of what an antenna can be. I already understood the basic construction of "the dipole" antenna and instantly said to myself "vertical dipole" brilliant work you have shown. I overlooked that simple technique often thinking dipole antennas were limited to horizontal polarization and directional operation. you have opened my eyes to how easy an antenna can be made, thank you again! I can't wait to try a construction of a 2 meter "field antenna" emergency build

it worked! I built this antenna for FM radio reception (98 Mhz, 750 mm long each end, 75 ohm coax cable), and it improved a lot in my stereo set. Congratulations for the video, it is very informative and simple, just what we need in real life... At a local electronic store (in Spain) they told me that they weren't selling FM antennas anymore... You saved my radio, thank you very much.

You just made a vertical dipole! Nice! Add a balun(multiple coax turns) at the bottom after the braid ends, this should remove the hiss and reflected rf in the ur shack

Very common antenna used in hang gliding. Center conductor runs up the harness mains that you're hanging from. The Shield runs back along horizontally on the back of your harness. Works very well. As you can imagine, range while airborne is very good.

I live in Melbourne (Australia) and I like to listen to 91.5 FM which during the early hours of the morning and late evening is PLAGUED with STATIC. I had tried various antenna fixes ex. you tube and decided to give yours a go using the 75cm dipole length from another on line calculation. Set it up behind the bed head and now almost static FREE and yet the radio signal display is much the same. Sure beats listening to the alternative new wave crapolla. Thanks for your highly informative and educational clip Kevin.

This was awesome. My interest in radios and HAM in general is mostly for readiness, so this would be an easy build to have in a kit or bag. Really cool. thanks!

So, I watched this video, acquired all of the necessary components and built it. Works amazing! Thanks for the SHTF comms idea!! 🤘

Thatnks for your video! In the 1990's I was assigned to go to a local hospital and establish comms during a search and rescue drill. I found that inside the hospital where I was told to be stopped my rubber duck antenna from getting into the repeater. I made one of these little dipoles for 2 meters with just a pocket knife. I borrowed some tape from the nurses station and taped the braid back onto the coax so it was just one line. The nurses were able to open one window about an inch at the bottom and I dropped the antenna out the window and down a few feet. It got me into the repeater very well. During an antenna building night with our club I had built ground plane antenna and knew that from the crook of my elbow to a certain spot on my hand was 19.25 " . That came in handy building the antenna at the hospital.

Hi, thank you for the nice video and showing that you do not need big bucks to antenna and ham radio really. In my early days some 40+ years back I used to construct a similar antenna but instead of slipping out the center conductor from the side, as was in your video, instead I rolled the braid down on the coax . It is still a dipole but in so doing the coax does not interact with the dipole as it comes out of the lower end. Well done and keep up the good work Mans 9h1gb

Now that my friend was an awesome video!!!! I'm just getting into ham and you made it in a way I could understand.

A ferrite bead at the feed point would help quite a bit in energizing that shield side of the dipole. A snap on noise choke would suffice in a pinch. Also, check the length of the shield. After pulling the center through it gets a bit longer. This is a great antenna in a pinch for new ops. Thanks for sharing. Your video problems sound like mine. 73

This is the second time I watched this video. It was a good refresher for me. Great job!

Wow, Thank you for sharing. I am new and overwhelmed.

Such a simple yet effective antenna and so easy to construct. Thank you!