Equipment & Emergencies
7 guides, starting with Types of Ham Radio Antennas: Dipoles, Verticals, Beams and More.
Start here · Essential guide
A plain-language tour of common ham radio antenna types, including dipoles, verticals, end-fed wires, Yagis and loops, and how to choose one for your bands and space.
A CB antenna may work on the nearby 10 meter ham band with tuning, but not on VHF, UHF or most HF bands. Learn why, and what to check before connecting one.
Learn how ham radio antennas work, what frequency, polarization, gain and SWR mean, and the basic steps for setting up your first antenna safely.
Homebrew ham antenna designs including the dipole, inverted V, ground plane, J-pole and end-fed wire, with the basic formulas, materials and testing tips.
An approximate coax loss chart for RG-58, RG-8X, RG-213 and LMR-400 at common ham frequencies, plus how to scale loss by length and why SWR adds more.
Choose the right coax for ham radio: 50-ohm cable types such as RG-58, RG-8X, RG-213 and LMR-400, connectors, loss, and why RG6 and RG59 are different.
How antenna height affects VHF range, with the radio horizon formula, a worked example, boat mounting notes, and the tradeoff with longer coax.
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