Foundations & Workshop

About this book

Every wire antenna rests on the same foundations: how antennas radiate, how to read a model, and the feedline, choke, balun and tuner between the wire and the radio. This is the workshop manual behind every Aerial Works build, written so that each one goes right first time.

• How HF antennas really work: wavelength, feed impedance, patterns, polarisation and the ground beneath them.
• Reading NEC charts: elevation, azimuth, SWR and impedance, explained one chart at a time.
• The workshop: wire, solder joints, PL-259 and N connectors and weatherproofing that lasts.
• Masts, ropes and rigging: poles, guys, pulleys and throw lines, done safely.
• Feedlines, chokes, baluns, ununs and tuners, built and tested on the bench.
• Measuring with a NanoVNA and fault-finding when the SWR is fine but nobody hears you.

Plain-spoken and practical, written for UK amateurs, with metric and imperial throughout.

Part of the Aerial Works series of practical antenna books for radio amateurs.