Building Your First Vertical HF Antenna - Tips for Success

Love your videos. I have been doing great with a 55ft wire up a 80ft. tree with a 9 to 1 UNUN from Palamar. 50ft. coax to a Palamar super choke then I run the coax into the shack with an electrical LB and 1in PVC. I have worked 155 countries from near Greenville, SC.

Walt, again great video. Thinking of doing a dipole for 10 m then you come out with this video. All I know loving the information, thank you.

Thanks. In a lot of ways this hobby is a lot like an English speaker learning German. It’s so complicated with so many new terms. You just want to quit. Thanks for making easier and more friendly.

Can I use a metal roof for a counter poise

Try putting a 9:1 transformer at the base of the JPC-7 and change the whip to a 5.2 m whip, work wonders

Thanks so much, great information, looking forward to getting out on the hilltop and building my first vertical..👍

Good video! Just to clarify, the radiating element on verticals is the center conductor on the coax, the braid on the coax gets connected to ground or radials. Love your videos, keep it up! You got me into anyenna building and I have built several of the antennas you have featured. 73 N2SCD

As an idea, as you mature the audience, maybe even moving to other more complex antennas within the theme--use with big 46' pole from DXE to support longer wire antennas, and also maybe single band wire vertical array. I bet if you did you 20m 1/4 vertical with a passive Director stuck wherever you wanted better gain (your VK targets) itd be more gain, you only need about 10% wavelength spacing. This would open up the ideas more too, EFHW vertical beams are not much in use so playing would be in order. Just some ideas, thanks for your content amd format, BTW Love You ❤️ 😍 💖 ❣️ 💕 the music and how you do it all on your phone. De WO8USA🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Great job Walt! As always! 👌 Your movies and adventures are inspiration for many new radiooperators. It's a pleasure to follow channel somebody with great hobby. Keep it up 💪 greetings from 🇵🇱, Łukasz SP5NT

Thanks!

Hey Walt, I've been studying for the past month or so and am going to take my Technician test tomorrow. Your videos have been educational, entertaining and a great motivator for me as I've been preparing. Thanks a lot and keep it coming! Thank you!

Your videos are encouraging. I have been a ham for about 5 years and I am still lost. I like to have things known before I spend money and seems like ham radio that is impossible. I also enjoy CB and I have a question. Is there a cheap wire antenna you can build that will work on 10 and 11 meters? Thank you for your time.

Thanks Walt!

Very informative video Walt.

Hi Walt. Very nicely explained well done. I'm a retired antenna design engineer and trying to get these points over to the beginner can be a taste.
So well done keep it going.
Best 73.
De HS0ZLQ, G0MIH.
Paul in Thailand

Very educational! One question I’ve had (not an engineer!) is why you might use half-wave versus quarter-wave versus 5/8-wave, etc. And while I know you’ve addressed it before, but when should we use different ratios of transformers?

Another really great informative & instructional video, Walt. I always recommend people to watch your channel & learn, the same as I do? Thankyou. Best 73 de Pete GI0FZT.

Walt, it works.. I have 98 confirmed countries on 20 watts and wire antennas. Keep up the great work.

Thanks for your great videos. I have been following your lead on trying out antennas. I have tried a coastal 20, an EFHW for 40m horizontal NVIS and just started using a Rybakov on a fishing pole. The last two in the last two days. Both tuned very well. However, my first try on both resulted in very high noise S5-6. I thought my setup was bad. I went back to the C 20 and had the same noise. I couldn’t find anything wrong. Later that evening I hooked the Rybakov back up. Worked great, no to little noise. Got up early today and was checking it out again. Connected to several NE QSO parties and experienced good RST, 5/7 to 5/9. Later in the morning made contact with Australia on my G90 - clear as a bell. This evening contacted Portugal - both 5/7. I have yet to retry the EFHW antenna. I spoke with other HAMs in the area and they too experienced the noise. What I learned was that I need to try antennas more than once before coming to conclusions about their performance. I have not checked solar activities for the past few days, but I suspect there was some interference. I am new to HAM and not yet familiar with signal interference symptoms in real time. I enjoy your videos and trying out the antennas too. 👍

Most easy to digest piece of antenna knowledge on YT. 73

Walt well what can i say brilliant i made my first anntena by watching your vids just amazing great info even i can understand lol well done mate, M7ETK this is the way of the ham.

This is antenna college, learn so much from Walt, have helped so many with so much, thank you!

Love your videos Walt. I sometimes use the spider washing line tube in my garden as a pole mount!

Love your videos, keep em up.

Walt,loved this video!!!! Helped loads.thankyou

Hi Walt, I love your simple but in-depth explanations and have a question. Here is my situation. I live on a postage stamp city lot with a 35'+ tree with a pulley mounted at its top. Four feet away from the base of the tree is a rusty but intact 42" high chain link fence that circles my yard with a total length of 150 feet with 2 right angles. In theory, if I mount the wire to about 25 feet + 42" fence = 28.5 feet up and use the fence as the radial attached through a 4:1 UNUN( level with the top of the fence), do you think it would radiate properly?

I don't live in a HOA but in a major city and this would disappear into its surroundings. Thanks!

Great stuff man!!
I'm close to pulling the trigger! You've been a great help.

Walt, do you have a video discussing the ferrite beads? Maybe which to use for a choke? I think I understand where I would place them. For example, If I want to use the feedline as part of the ground then I might place them closer to the transceiver. Or, I could isolate the feedline by placing them at the feedpoint. Or I could even place them at both ends of the feedline.
But how do we know which to use and how many of them? thanks! KK6IPK.

Walt, thank for your efforts, they are appreciated. I purchased, setup, and have been using an EFOCF dipole from Palomar Engineering., strung north to south. Very Decent SWR on 40, 20, 15, 12, and 10. Little DX success so far. Now am committed to making verticals for DX. THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO - I plan to use the info here. fm KQ4IXD

Thanks Walt!

As a new Ham, I enjoy your videos and get a lot out of them. Thanks! Question: can I use the cheap TV coax for ground radials? I know it’s not good for feed line. Wondering if the shielding makes it not good for the radials either. Thanks again.

Thanks!

Have you ever built a 5/8 over 5/8 for 10m. ?

I spent the majority of my life as a musician, At 63 years old, I still play and record with various bands/projects. I did well enough that I could go back to school in my late 50s and study electronics. I discovered ham radio and fell in love with it, antenna building specifically (after I realized that a great antenna can make a less expensive radio work well. I watch your videos daily and consider them the backbone of my antenna education. While I have read a fair number of antenna books, having you break complex ideas down into easy to understand concepts has made all the difference. Thanks for taking the time to educate us. My HF experience would never have been as good as it is without your tutorials...73...KN6KNB

Great video as always, Walt. I have just built my first Rybakov using the DX Commander pole and LDG 4:1 I got from DXE, and I am eager to put it to work this weekend for field day. So far, the tuner in my little X6100 gets in flat on 40-10. Also, let folks know that when you set up your verticals on the beach, the "salt water amplifier" is REAL! We can't get that down here in the foothills of the Appalachians where I live, but having operated from Navarre Beach, FL once, I can say for sure it is a wonderful thing.

K5SFC

What dx commander pole do you recommend? I was looking at the 10m travel pole thanks I was wanting to get into pota and qrp I just ordered a g90..

"If you key the mic you're not gonna rip a hole in The Universe" 😂 That's reassuring, thanks! Btw, I may have already asked this, but do you happen to know the external diameter of the bottom of the DX Commander Classic? Everyone seems to talk about the interior dimensions, but I'd find that info useful ahead of getting one next week and trying out some of your ideas. Thanks for another great vid.

Thanks Walt! This is Great Stuff!!

Thanks for going down to the basics. Helpful!

Excellent vid! I’ve had a general class license for a couple of years and still haven’t gotten on HF. I am definitely overthinking, and trying to over perfect a first attempt at making an antenna.

As my steel pan tuner said when I asked him how I should learn to improvise, he said:

“Go out on stage, sound like s*t for a while, and get better.”

Very helpful to this absolute Newby. Can you provide links for purchasing chokes, ununs and banana plugs?
What bands are best for local listening only. No transmit.
What bands best for longer range listening?
I've got a freshly refurbished Yaesu FT101E that I've owned for years but never powered up.
I'm hoping to find instruction on how to listen ONLY and how to properly dial in this complex looking vintage radio.
Thanks

One way of adding radials is to buy a cheap inline lightning arrestor add it between your balun/unun and your coax, then attach the radials to the grounding screw on the arrestor.

73 de AF6AS in “DM13” land

Thank you for this video. Very informative and helpful.

My little gray kitten keeps trying to put her paw in your mouth, so far, she has not figured out there is not a person behind the screen. She is funny. I thought you might enjoy this side of life!

This is excellent. And a huge help. Quick question: do things (by things I mean the counterpoise wires and arrangement) change if the base of the vertical is off the ground, such as mounted on a fence post??

This is a really helpful video. Much appreciated!

Walt,
“You’re not going to rip a hole in the universe” that made me laugh. Thanks for the downvote and dirty. I know a lot of new hams appreciated that.

Down and dirty. Not downvote. Darn spell correct.

Going back watching some of your videos Walt, I have made quickie antennas using house wire and wire nuts on the stripped end of the coax (all that was available). Was showing people you don't have to buy an antenna to get on the air.

You have proved that not all "doers" can be teachers.

Correction: I had a senior moment and said PL-239 in the video, it’s PL-259 and SO-239.