An Easy to Deploy Multi-band HF Antenna for under $170 Bob Klaus N0YWB

For a Boy Scout Radio Merit Badge class, I wanted the Scouts to experience QSOs on the HF bands.
I needed to erect an HF antenna outside of the school building where the Merit Badge University was
held. I wanted an antenna that I could erect quickly by myself, and did not depend upon on any
nearby trees or other supports.

The crossed-dipole
inverted-V antenna,
erected outside of the
Excelsior Middle School.

To warn of a tripping
hazard, fluorescent rope is
used for the adjustable guy
lines.

Fluorescent tape is
wrapped around the base
pole section.
Two dipoles positioned at right angles will have minimum interaction with each other. The wires are
used as part of the four guys that support the mast. I used fluorescent polyester rope to extend the
guy lines past the end of the antenna elements. Both the antenna wire length and the polyester rope
is adjustable to allow the antenna to be easily re-tuned to resonate on each band.

The polyester rope is looped loosely around the stake and doubled up when the antenna is staked
out on the ground, and is then let out as the center mast sections are inserted vertically from the
bottom. The photo below shows the line tensioner made from plastic tubing.

For the center mast, I used roof rake extension poles. These are available at the hardware store
during the winter months. The poles are 5 feet long and 1 inch in diameter, and snap together. They
cost about $7 each. The aluminum poles are very strong yet light weight. I have snapped eight
together to make a 40 foot mast. These poles are useful for a number of projects: for tarp awning
supports, lifting guy line leaders into trees, and for a Field Day antenna mast.

2020 Update: The Yardworks roof rake extension poles are now discontinued. An inexpensive
alternative are 6 foot dowels spliced together with 1 inch CPVC pipe sleeves – about $30 for a 36 foot
mast.

The best height above ground for a horizontal dipole to have a low radiation angle (DX) is one-half
wavelength. For the 20 meter band, this is 32 feet. For local near-vertical incidence sky-wave
propagation (NVIS), keep the center height less than one quarter wavelength for the desired band.

A 40 foot mast without a center guy is

wobbly and likely to buckle. By adding a
guy ring midway up, the mast is very
sturdy. I use a 7/8 inch I.D. washer as a
guy ring that can be placed between mast
sections. I drilled four ¼ inch diameter
holes in the washer for the guy strings.

I can also replace the mid-section guy

strings with an additional pair of dipoles for
higher bands, fed with a separate coax
feedline. I stake these at a 45 degree
offset from the upper antenna to minimize
coupling.
A cow hitch can easily be loosened
to adjust the wire length.

I cut the wires extra long, and fold

the wire back on itself at the ends.

The ends of a dipole are high voltage

and low current. The wire folded
back on itself is electrically the same
as a single wire, if the wires are kept
together.

Note the reference band I shrink-wrapped at the 62 foot mark on the 75 meter wire shown above.
This makes it easier to make length adjustments without trying to measure from the center insulator.

I use self-vulcanizing rubber tape to hold the folded wire together. Plastic electrical tape will work for
short-term deployment. Over time, plastic electrical tape unwraps when used outdoors. I use a loop
of heavy fishing line between the wire and the paracord guy line to make the cow-hitch.

Silky vinyl coated copper clad steel antenna wire works the best for repeated folding. 14 gauge
stranded electrical wire will work, but the PVC insulation will eventually crack after repeated folding.
The cracked insulation will not affect the wire as an antenna. In the pictures you can see the small
piece of shrink tubing that serves as the 32 foot mark, to assist in making wire length adjustments

An inverted V antenna will have some coupling between the vertical component of the antenna
elements. Adjusting the length of the antenna for one band will have some effect on the antenna for
the other band. My experience has shown that the resonant wire length for the inverted V element is
around 93% of the free-space quarter wavelength, less than the 95-97% usually stated for horizontal
wire dipoles. I wanted my antenna to be resonant at the center of the voice segment of each band.
The lengths I used::

Band Cut length Fold wire back at Added guy string

75 m. 70 ft. 62 ft. 1 in. 11 ft
40 m. 36 ft. 32 ft. 2 in. 26 ft.
20 m. 18 ft. 16 ft. 1 in 32 ft.
15 m. 12 ft. 10 ft. 9 in. 46 ft
10 m. 9 ft. 8 ft. 48 ft.

Option: Instead of a single 62 foot wire for each half of the 75 meter dipole, I use two 52 foot wire legs
on each side, spread at a 30 degree angle. This effectively creates a very fat dipole like a bow-tie
antenna with a wide bandwidth. I do not need a tuner to maintain less than 1.8:1 SWR from 3.6 to 4
MHz. This works great on Field Day!
Use an SWR meter or an antenna analyzer to adjust the wire length for lowest SWR. The wire
lengths in the table above should only be considered a starting point. Allow for +/- 5 percent
adjustment of the wire length. The electrical length of a resonant dipole is influenced by:
 Height above ground
 Apex angle
 The other band antenna elements
 Length of the aluminum supporting mast.
 Soil conductivity.
 Other nearby conductors

Conductors need to be more than 2 wavelengths away from the antenna before their influence is
negligible. This includes nearby building siding, gutters, wiring and utility lines. Failure to include
these influences are why NEC models sometimes fail to reflect measured results.

There is nothing special about the center insulator. I used a 1-inch plastic plumbing tee that fits over
the roof rake extension pole mast. I cut down the tee fitting to be a support for the choke and RG58
coax. I used stainless steel bolts and wing nuts so I can easily change wire elements for different
bands.
I fanned out 6 inches of the coax braid, twisted the braid together, and attached ring lug terminals to
the braid and center conductor. I alo soldered the ring lug terminals to ensure a low resistance
connection that will hold up even after months in the rain. The center connection of the dipole is low
voltage but high current -you want the connections to be very low resistance and to stay that way.

To keep moisture from wicking inside the coax cable, I applied silicone sealant over the coax where
the braid was fanned out. The braid is fragile, so strain relief is needed to keep tension off the coax.
For a permanent installation, cover the hardware with silicone sealant.

The photos above show the SWR bar graph display on the IC-7000 transceiver. When the wire
length is adjusted correctly, the entire 40 meter band can be covered with less than 1.5:1 SWR. I
need to shorten the length of the 20 meter antenna by about 1 inch.

A coax RF choke inductor at the feed point will ensure that the RF current goes out to the antenna
and not back down the feed line. This inductor is sometimes called a choke balun, (even though the
inductor does not actually convert the unbalanced coax into a balanced feed). I had a large, type 61
toroid core available, so I wound several turns of the RG-58 coax through the core. An equally
effective air-core inductor can be made from several turns of coax, wound about six inches in
diameter.
A horizontal dipole has a horizontal radiation pattern shaped like a figure 8, with the maximum
radiation broadside to the dipole. The inverted V has a more circular radiation pattern. It can be
argued that an inverted V is less effective than a horizontal dipole, but this is hardly noticed in
practice. The circular radiation pattern may be of greater advantage on Field Day.

Azimuth radiation pattern comparison for horizontal dipole (black) versus inverted V (blue).
From DK7ZB http://dk7zb.darc.de/portabel/inverted_u.htm

The height above ground affects the vertical radiation pattern. When the height above ground is ½
wavelength, the vertical radiation pattern looks like a flattened circle, with most of the energy radiated
at 30 degrees above the horizon. This is ideal for DX, but may result in a dead skip zone for local
communications under 300 miles. When the height is less than one-quarter wave length, the
vertical radiation pattern looks like a circle, with most of the energy going straight up. This is called
near-vertical incidence sky-wave (NVIS) propagation, ideal for regional communication. The
Ionosphere will reflect NVIS signals below FOT -usually below 7 MHz. Note that as the wire is
brought closer to the ground, more RF current is coupled through the soil and lost as heat. In areas
with poor soil conductivity, placing half-wavelength wires or tin foil on the ground will help to reflect
the signal upward. The re-bar buried in concrete driveways and ceilings makes a good HF reflector.
Vertical polar radiation diagrams in the plane normal to a horizontal dipole antenna.
From the RAF Signal Manual. From page 244 of Radio Antenna Engineering
https://www.nonstopsystems.com/radio/pdf-hell/article-hell-bernhard-antenna-lprt-52-full.pdf

Use six roof rake poles for a 30 foot high apex, for a low radiation angle on 20 meters. This was
evident the day I first tried out this antenna. After using an antenna analyzer to adjust each antenna
for a low SWR in the middle of the voice segment of the 40 and 20 meter bands, I brought my IC-
7000 transceiver outside to try it out. In 10 minutes, I made contacts on 20 meters with hams in
Czechoslovakia, New Zealand and Vancouver.
Dimensions for a mast for the 75 meter band.

There is nothing new or novel about this antenna. After building this antenna, I later discovered an
article for a nearly identical design. See "The Tee Pee V 20 and 40 Meter Antenna", by Robert
Giuliano, KB8RCO in the June 2008 edition of QST, http://p1k.arrl.org/pubs_archive/109573. This
article is also in the recently published "ARRL's Even More Wire Antenna Classics Volume 3", pages
9-11.
The eight mast sections, guy lines, stakes, antenna
wires and coax pack into a large fishing rod tote for easy
carrying.
Suggested materials list::

8 Yardworks® 5' Aluminum Extension Pole for Roof Rake Model Number AM247-1 $6.99 ea.
https://www.menards.com/main/outdoors/snow-ice-removal/snow-shovels/yardworks-reg-5-
aluminum-extension-pole-for-roof-rake/am247-1/p-1444423365322-c-1526586197108.htm

2020 Update: The Yardworks roof rake extension poles are now discontinued. An inexpensive
alternative are 6 foot dowels spliced together with 1 inch CPVC pipe sleeves – about $30 for a 36 foot
mast.

8 KingCord® Small Cordage Holder with Label, Model 457001MN 7.25 x 0.46 x 4.75 inch $0.59 ea.
https://www.menards.com/main/tools/automotive/towing-cargo-management/chains-accessories/
ropes-rope-handling/kingcord-reg-small-cordage-holder-with-label/457001mn/p-1444439544462.htm

2 7/8 inch I.D. Stainelss Steel Flat Washer $1.19 ea.

https://www.menards.com/main/hardware/fasteners-connectors/washers-spacers/flat-washers/
midwest-fastener-reg-7-8-class-18-8-stainelss-steel-flat-washer-1-count/87755/p-1444440174025-c-
8945.htm

2 ft PVC pipe, 3/8 inch I.D. schedule 40, Menards SKU 6898504 $1.25 per 5 ft.
https://www.menards.com/main/plumbing/rough-plumbing/pipe-tubing-hoses-fittings-accessories/pvc-
pipe/solid-core-pvc-plain-end-pipe-schedule-40/pvc040051000hc/p-1444426400458-c-8571.htm

250 feet Davis Poly-STEALTH 26 Ga. black poly coated 19 strand copper clad steel antenna wire.
Enough to make dipole wires for the 75, 40, 20 and 15 meter bands.
http://www.davisrf.com/antenna-wire/polystealth.php $ 0.21 per foot

100 ft RG8x coaxial cable with PL259 connectors

https://www.ebay.com/itm/282589878265 $41.90

Ferrite toroid choke core FT240 type 43 or type 31

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184715835576 $7.39

8 ft black Dacron braided fishing line $11.95 per 50 ft.

https://sgtknots.com/products/solid-braid-dacron-polyester-rope?variant=12351196037206

550 lb 5/32” paracord 200 ft dayglo, 200 ft neon orange $3.95 per 100 ft.
https://www.paracordplanet.com/top-colors-550-paracord/

8 Mini Stainless Steel Key Buckle Snap Spring Clip Hook Carabiner pkg 10 for $2.92 + free shipping
https://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Pcs-EDC-Mini-Stainless-Steel-Key-Buckle-Snap-Spring-Clip-Hook-
Carabiner-MZ/173491645520

9 GLOW IN THE DARK Tent Stakes Pegs Heavy Duty Steel Metal pkg 16 for $16.75 + free shipping
https://www.ebay.com/itm/16-GLOW-IN-THE-DARK-Tent-Stakes-Pegs-Heavy-Duty-Steel-Metal-
Camping-Tarp-Long/221787106322

Canvas Fishing Pole Storage Bag Case, 150 cm Y1A1 $19.76 + free shipping
https://www.ebay.com/c/2165254524?iid=273429795388