Hi,
No, the wire doesn't need to be perfectly straight.
Yes, it is posisble to have good performance with one antenna for all
the bands.
Here's a web page that might be of some limited help

http://www.bloomington.in.us/~wh2t/Jpole.htm

Ace - WH2T


wrote in message
oups.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.

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.

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.

I appreciate your help!