wrote in message
ups.com...
New to ham radio. Interested in building an antenna for a base station.
I dont have anything yet, just in the planning stage.


Thought about buying a handheld and using that as part of my "base
station" one maybe capable of 2 440 and 6. These seem cheaper used than
the home units.


Yes the handhelds are cheaper but they have a lot less power. However if
your antenna is high enough, you can do amazing things with it.


My question is, is there information out there on how to build one? I
have a radio shack book at home that has a plan for a 440. It uses
aluminum ground wire. What I find when working with this stuff is it is
impossible to make it perfectlyu straight. Doesn't that effect the
performance? I mean it comes coiled and when I cut it to length I cant
get it perfectly straight.


It doesn't have to be perfectly straight. You won't notice any difference
unless you have loops coiled in it.


Also, it is posisble to have good performance with one antenna for all
the bands? Or is it absolutely necessary to have one antenna for each
band? I have limited room.


Yes there are multiband antennas. Basically, they use some type of coil or
trap to subdivide the antenna. The full length of the antenna is used for
the lowest frequency, etc.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE