"Joaquin Tall" wrote in message
...
Hello All,

I have just gotten my tech license and am eager to get my station up and
running. I am starting on a shoestring; currently, I have no equipment
whatsoever and don't know what I should buy just yet. In absence of a
rig, I am now studying to pass my General license exam next month.

I am very interested in building my own HF/VHF/UHF antennas. I've seen
the ARRL books, but I was hoping that you good folks might have some
favorite websites, book titles or magazine issues [old or new] that
you'd be willing to pass along that could get me started.

I will make my (usual) pitch for the j-pole antenna.

Take a look at http://www.hamuniverse.com/jpole.html and see what can be
done at UHF/VHF with a few pieces of pipe, some solder and a torch. The
j-pole is a good match after a little fiddling, It's durable, requires no
ground plane and can be mounted almost anywhere. I have made about two
dozen of them for myself, for RACES and for friends in the local club. My
first one (early 90's) is on the roof of my house and I used it on 2m
earlier this evening, as I do most evenings.

Search google.com for jpole antenna and see about 40,000 other links.

The "quad antenna" and its cousin the "quagi," a quad/yagi hybrid, are also
possible, but I've never built any of them, myself. The venerable
whip-over-downward-radials is easy but can be tedious to tune for a good
match. (I built one of them onto a construction hardhat as an novelty; got
a good match, too.)

I'm next door to you in Chula Vista, by the way.

KD6VKW
http://members.cox.net/sobars/