TO: ALL WOOD COUNTY ARES MEMBERS (OFFICIAL)
ALL ARES AND NON-ARES AMATEURS ANYWHERE (INFORMATION)
FROM: KEN HARRIS WA8LLM ARRL DISTRICT 3
EMERGENCY COORDINATOR WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS INC.
WOOD COUNTY ARES BULLETIN NR 20.41 DATE: October 11, 2020
SUBJECT: THE ANTENNA IS VERY IMPORTANT
Any Amateur Radio who has been around for any length of time can tell you the antenna of any radio system is very important. It doesn't make any difference whether you are setting up a radio system that operates on VLF (Very Low Frequencies), SHF (Super High Frequencies), or any place between, the antenna is a very important to the system.
You can either build or buy your antennas. If you build your antenna, you can learn a lot. You should be able to tell if it is built right by the kind of contacts you make. If your system works like you expect it to, then your antenna may be working just fine. But, if it doesn't do what you want, then you may have to re-engineer, and/or re-build it.
If you can't get it to work as well as you think it should, then you might want to purchase one that has been designed and built by professional engineers. There no shame in purchasing a commercial antenna, remember those who designed and built the antenna have the machinery and test equipment to make sure it works the way it should.
You may be able to get some ideas from a commercial antenna, and then build one that is almost as good.
Ken Harris WA8LLM
WCEC
Wood County WV