HF Antennas

No doubt about it, without a good antenna, no matter how good the receiver, you will not hear much of anything. These links should help even a newcomer feel comfortable about selecting and installing a HF antenna. There's several technical links for the experimenters in us, along with several commercial retailers. For loop antennas - both receive only and transmit-capable - please see our Loops article.

If you're a newcomer or old hat, or anywhere in between, when installing antennas, Safety First.
Make this link a must read. Don't become a statistic!

Receive Applications

Active Antennas

• Active Antennas KB6RWX
• Mini Active Whip Antenna for handhelds (via eBay)
• RF Systems Antennas and Accessories via Jacobs Breda Electronics, the Netherlands. PDF document

Indoor Active Antennas

• Grahn GS5 Active Antennas (in German)
• MFJ 1020C
• Palstar LA-30

Outdoor Active Antennas

• Bonito Antennas page
  • NTi Wideband Antennas (via Universal Radio)
• Cross Country Wireless HF Active Antenna
• Dressler Active Antennas sold by Broadband Power Technology
• MFJ 1024
  • eHam reviews of the MFJ 1024
• Pacific Antenna Active Antenna kit
• RF Systems DX-1 Pro Active Antenna
• PA0RDT Mini Whip clones (Amazon)
  • How to Properly Install a Mini whip in an noisy urban environment via SWLing.com
  • VE7SL -PA0RDT E Probe Antenna - Blog Notes

SWLing.com Artcles

• Bonito Boni Whip review
• Traveling and DXing with the Bonito MegActive MA305 Antenna
• New antenna from Bonito: The MegaDipole MD300DX wideband active dipole
• Test the MegaDipole MD300DX wideband active dipole via a KiwiSDR

Other Websites

• Building your own Active Antenna via DXer.ca

AMANDX Indexed Articles

• AMANDX = Association of Manitoba DXers. Their home page is here
  • Anti Static Devices
  • Beverage Antennas
  • Choosing Wire for an Antenna
  • Dipole Antenna
  • Grounding System
  • Limited Space Antennas
  • Longwire Antennas
  • MFJ 1026 Modifications
  • Simple Antenna Switch
  • The Great White North Antenna

Commercial Antennas

• Alpha Delta DX-SWL Shortwave Sloper
• BevFlex-4X Receive Antenna System
  • eHam comments on the BevFlex-4X
• G Whip Magnetic Balun Receive Antenna
  • eHam comments on the G Whip Magnetic Balun Receive Antenna
• HVend .3-30 Mhz SWL antenna
• Lowbander.com
  • Look at the bottom of the page
• Palomar Engineers - End Fed Antennas
• RF Systems Antennas and Accessories via Jacobs Breda Electronics, the Netherlands. PDF document
• Universal Radio SW/MW Antennas
• Vibroplex PAR EF-SWL Antenna
• WinRadio Antennas

Homebrew

• Basic HF Antennas
• Broomstick Antenna
• The EWE in the Garden
• If you are using a portable and want to add a bit of protection against static electricity, or want to add a crude RF Gain control, see this article for a simple project you can build.
• The McGyver(tm) special
• Hard Core DX Antennas Page - Technical Discussions, Plans, Hidden Antennas and more
• How to Build a Simple Linear Loaded Dipole for low noise SW Listening via SWLing.com
• Giuseppe’s Homebrew “TFerrite 2” Mediumwave & Shortwave Antenna via SWLing.com
• SDRPlay Antenna Suggestions
• Ham Radio - My second HF antenna. A stealth end fed wire for 80 - 10 meters (YouTube)
• 49:1 End Fed Multiband Antenna (YouTube)

Technical

• Antenna Basics
• Beverage Antenna
• DIY Antenna Mounting Bracket
• Need a coax attachment to feed a fan dipole? Take a look at the Fan Dipole Attachment designed by chgomonitor
• Grounding Bulkhead with supressors for your scanning station
  • Although the above article mentions a scanning station, this applies to HF, too
• Grounding is Key to Good Reception (Blog article)
• Joe Carr's Technical Notes - via DXing.com
• Magnetic Longwire Balun - Not really a Balun
• Magnetic Longwire Balun - A Con or Not?
• Monitoring Times - All About Antennas (PDF)

Terminology

• What is HAAT?
• What is ERP?

Verticals

• AOR SA-7000
  • AOR SA7000 Wideband Base Station Antenna Thread
  • AOR SA7000 comments on eHam
• Apex Radio 303WA-2
  • Apex Radio 303WA-2 Antenna Thread
• Moonraker X1-HF Vertical

Amateur / Commercial

Array Solutions

• Array Solutions Antennas
  • eHam comments on the AS-SAL-20
  • eHam comments on the AS-SAL-30
  • eHam comments on the SWSD-1
  • eHam comments on the AS-AYL-4

DX Engineering Products

• Active Horizontal Receive Antennas DXE-ARAH3-1P
  • eHam comments on the DXE-ARAH3-1P
• Active Vertical Receive Antennas DXE-ARAV3-1P
  • eHam comments on the DXE-ARAV3-1P
• ARAV3-4P Active Vertical Receive Antenna Packages DXE-ARAV3-4P
  • eHam comments on the DXE-ARAV3-4P
• DX Engineering ARAV4-2P Active Antennas
• Reversible Beverage Systems DXE-RBSA-1P
  • eHam comments on the DXE-RBSA-1P
• Eight Circle Complete Array Systems DXE-RCA8C-SYS-4S
  • eHam comments on the DXE-RCA8C-SYS-4S
• Receive Four Square Array Systems
  • eHam comments on the RFS-TS2P Receive Four Square Array Package
• YCCC Receive Vertical Array Kits and Kit Packages DXE-YCCC-9CRCL
  • eHam comments on the Yankee Contest Clipper Club YCCC 9-Circle Receive Array

Various Other Distributors

• Alpha Delta Communications
• Balun-Designs.com
• Barker and Williamson
• Buckmaster 7 Band OCF dipole
• Chameleon CHA MPAS Lite
• Cobra UltraLite
• HyEndFed Antennas
• KM4MPF Sales
• MFJ Wire Antennas and related
• MyAntennas.com
• My Go2 Antenna (TN07 Engineering)
• Palomar Engineers
• Radiowavz
• SGC Base Station Antennas
• SGC Portable, Mobile and Whip Antennas
• SE-HF X80 Vertical Antenna
  • eHam comments on X80 Antenna
• Universal Radio Amateur Antennas

Technical and construction topics

• Attic Antennas --Always Surprise Me (John Schriener Jr. N2LK via EHam)
• Amateur 7 Element Yagi calculator
• The Antenna Elmer
• An Attic Coaxial Cable Trap Dipole for 10,15,20,30,40 and 80 Meters
• Antenna Lessons from Old Timers (EHam article)
• Antenna Projects of Frank N4SPP
• Bobtails and Half Squares
• Broadband Butterfly Terminated Dipole (YouTube video)
• DX Zone Antennas Catalog
• End Fed Half wave wire
• Feeding a Folded Dipole
• HFLink ALE Antennas
• PA0FRI Technical Information for Hams
• Reinventing the tape dipole via eHam
• Shortened Folded Dipoles via eHam
• Six Band HF Center-Loaded Off Ce nter Fed Dipole
• The Terminated Tilted Folded Dipole (T2FD)
• The Folded Dipole Antenna
• The Snake Antenna (eHam)
• W8JI.Com Antennas Page

Files

• Dallas Lankford was an active DXer and writer for many years on topics of antennas, loops, amplifiers and more. His files are linked below - these are all zip files stored on Google Drive so you need something like WinZip or 7-Zip to uncompress them. These articles are generally very technical in nature.
  • Dallas Lankford File A
  • Dallas Lankford File B
  • Dallas Lankford File C
  • Dallas Lankford File D

Books

• Antenna Books by the ARRL and RSGB
• Stealth Amateur Radio
• Stealth Antennas - Amazon Kindle
• 73 Dipole and Long Wire Antennas by Ed Noll (PDF)

Reviews

• DXing.Info Equipment Page
• EHam Reviews
  • HF Mobile & Accessories
  • HF Portable
  • HF Verticals, Wire, Loop
  • HF: Yagi, Quad, Rotary dipole, LPDA

Mailing Lists/forums

• End Fed Half Wave Antennas (Facebook)
• Real End Fed half Wave Antennas (Facebook)

---

• Return to Antennas
• Return to HF Military Communications
• Return to Shortwave Radiogram Gateway