Introduction to HF – Part 1 of 3 :

The HF Bands
The following is the first part of a three-part guide to help get started with HF, written by
Charlie Davy – M0PZT

This article is split into 3 parts:”The HF Bands“, “Choosing a Radio“, and “Aerials.” The
content here is primarily aimed at the Foundation/Intermediate licence-holder, therefore a
number of topics (especially those surrounding propagation) have been kept “simple” on
purpose. Whether you’ve just got your licence and want to get onto HF quickly, or have been
active on 2m for a while and want to “take the plunge” into HF, then this article should help
you get to know what to expect from the bands and how to get the most out of your station.

In Part 3 we will cover aerials – Especially those that can work in a small (<50ft) garden or
perhaps where stealth operation is your primary concern. Your antenna system is the most
important aspect of your station and we’ll explain how to make it as efficient as
possible. Introduction to HF – Part 2 covers radios and include a few suggestions for both
new and second-hand transceivers – Some of the more advanced/useful features will also be
covered such as IF-Shift, VFO-Split and DSP Filtering.

The HF Bands

This first part introduces the HF bands and explains how they work and what you can expect
to hear at a given time. There is something for everyone on HF, whether you want to speak
to a friend “up north” or chase new Countries (ie: DX’ing). A range of modes are used – Not
just voice and Morse code but PSK, RTTY, JT and even SSTV (slow-scan television). The
WARC bands (30m, 17m, 12m) are so-called due to their inclusion in the Amateur Radio
bandplan during the World Administrative Radio Conference in 1979 and are free of contest
activity – Thereby offering a safe sanctuary from those who prefer a longer QSO or wish to
find a more challenging DX contact!
First, a quick look at what is known as “skip” – Radio waves at VHF typically travel line-of-
sight which is why an aerial should be as high up as possible. On HF, waves travel as
a ground-wave before dramatically attenuating, however the waves also travel upwards
(known as sky-wave) and then (hopefully) bounce off of the ionosphere and come back down
many hundreds of miles away. The image below explains how it is possible for Station A
and Station C who are 1000 miles away to communicate, but also explains why Station B in
the middle (with only 500 miles between each station) may not hear either.

The time of day also affects how (and if) the signals bounce off the ionosphere – A brief look
at propagation is to be carried-out in Part 3 : Aerials.

Example of HF skip and ground wave

Here’s a description of the various HF bands, their characteristics and some frequencies to try
listening to:

1.8MHz (160m) and 3.5MHz (80m)

The lowest of the HF bands, these are restricted to short range (under 300 miles) during the
day due to D-Layer absorption but after sunset the atmosphere reflects the waves allowing
signals from Europe and afar. As you can see from the wavelength, dipoles for these bands
are 80m and 40m in length respectively – Fine if you have a big garden, but you will struggle
if you have a typical 50ft garden. In Part 3 we will discuss aerials and getting the most from
a small garden.

7MHz (40m)

This is the band where you’ll find lots of UK stations during the day. During daylight hours,
40m is good for around 500-miles and is therefore good for “inter-G” QSOs and, with Essex
being close to the Continent, easy QSOs over to France, Germany and the Netherlands. As
the sun sets, the band starts to go long-skip and you’ll hear less UK-stations and more
Continentals – Overnight you can expect to hear signals from North and South America.

CW: 7.000 – 7.040

PSK: 7.042
SSB: 7.050 – 7.200
10MHz (30m) – WARC band, contest-free

A small band, 10.100 – 10.150MHz with no voice operation. This band is for CW (Morse)
and datamodes such as PSK, RTTY and JT65. Sitting in-between 7MHz and 14MHz, it
enjoys properties of both bands with fairly local (inter-EU) propagation during the
daytime. After-dark you may hear stations from America.

14MHz (20m)

Usually known as the “DX Band” due to its reliability for something to be worked at any time
of the day. It’s very popular during the day with signals from across the World but if you
want to work Australia, you’ll need to be an early riser as propagation to VK is best around
sunrise. Due to the way the radio waves travel (and bounce/skip), on this band you are
unlikely to hear much activity from within 500 miles unless the station is very local to
you. There is lots of daytime activity around 14.070 using the PSK mode.

CW: 14.000 – 14.070

PSK: 14.070
JT65: 14.076
RTTY: 14.080 – 14.099
SSB: 14.100 – 14.350

18MHz (17m) – WARC band, contest-free

Similar in many ways to 14MHz, this band is also affected by solar activity. During the day,
this band typically offers great propagation over to America with South America getting
stronger late afternoon until sunset.

21MHz (15m)

Another interesting DX band – If you’re interested in working Asia, listen just after sunrise
and until about Midday. You can then expect signals from the USA for the remainder of the
day. This is a fairly large band so there’s plenty of room for CW, digimodes and SSB.

CW: 21.000 – 21.070

PSK: 21.070
SSB: 21.150 – 21.450

24.9MHz (12m) – WARC band, contest-free

Offering some of the properties of 21MHz and some of 28MHz, this is a bad that can
experience Sporadic E openings during the summer.

28MHz (10m)

A band that is affected by sunspots and thus exhibits very changeable properties ranging from
nothing to chaos. Sporadic E is common May through August and during the peak of the
sunspot-cycle, regular long-distance communications are possible. Often enjoyed by mobile
stations operating 10m FM making QSOs between the UK and USA as easy as a local 2m
FM QSO.
CW: 28.000 – 28.070
JT65: 28.076
PSK: 28.120
SSB: 28.225 – 28.600

CQ DX, CQ DX…

The concept of “DX” on HF usually means “a different Continent” so when you hear a
European calling CQ DX then he probably isn’t interested in speaking to you (no matter how
much you want to speak to him!). Of course, there are plenty of stations who will be happy
to work you, especially if they’re simply calling CQ or they happen to reply to your call.

Unlike VHF, there are no dedicated calling frequencies on the HF bands, simply pick a clear
frequency in the mode-area you are using – Ask if the frequency is clear a few times (or
send QRL? if you’re using CW or PSK/RTTY), then start to call CQ.

Getting onto HF doesn’t have to involve an expensive transceiver and big/long aerials in your
garden – A reasonable second-hand radio and a tuned dipole for your band of interest would
suffice. Of course, each band has its own merits so if you want to be efficient on multiple
bands, you’ll have to get creative when it comes to an antenna solution. Before we talk about
aerials, wires and feeders – the next part will focus on choosing a transceiver, some features
to look for and offer a few example radios that you may wish to consider…

Introduction to HF – Part 2 of 3 :
Selecting A Transceiver
The following is the second part of a three-part guide to help get started with HF, written by
Charlie Davy, M0PZT

In Introduction to HF – Part 1, we covered the HF bands, their properties and what you
could expect to hear on them. In this second part, we look at transceivers and include a few
suggestions for those both new and second-hand. Some of the more advanced/useful features
are also covered such as IF-Shift, VFO-Split and DSP Filtering.

New or Second-Hand?

There are plenty of radios to be found on eBay, Ham Forums or perhaps via your local Club –
Your first radio need not be the most expensive offering from one of the big manufacturers,
and with an entry-level HF radio costing in the region of £650, it’s a big commitment for the
first-timer… The most expensive radios offer a range of features: digital filtering, dual-
VFOs, dual-receivers, visual band-scope/waterfall etc. All these extra features can help you
make a QSO: whether it’s to filter-out a nearby signal or fine-tune using the Clarifier, often,
getting a QSO can simply be down to luck and not a £5000 radio….
DSP and Filtering

All transceivers have a volume control, most have a squelch knob (useful on FM), and some
have an RF Gain option which lets you reduce the sensitivity of the receiver when faced with
a very strong/local signal. The more modern/advanced/expensive the radio, the more
advanced the features are. Modern transceivers usually offer some form of Digital Signal
Processing (DSP) which can tailor the sound of the signal either on an IF (Intermediate
Frequency) or AF (Audio Frequency) basis.

AF, the most common, is typically employed on radios such as Yaesu’s FT-857D and FT-
897D – In both CW and SSB modes, the width of the signal can be adjusted so that unwanted
“side-splatter” can be attenuated. As this is AF-based, the receiver can still be overloaded by
strong adjacent signals. This is because the AF-based DSP is, essentially, a fancy form of
equalisation (just like on your Hi-Fi).

IF-based filtering, either with a more advanced radio like the FT-450D, FT-950, IC-7000,
IC7100, TS-590S or an optional plug-in filter can dramatically improve the radio’s tolerance
to strong adjacent signals. This kind of filtering is preferred because it is applied at the “front-
end” of the receiver, allowing only the wanted signal to pass through to your speaker. The
following diagram shows several signals spread across 1KHz – Let’s assume that these are all
CW signals and we are only interested in the centre signal:

With the radio’s pass-band set to around 1000Hz, a total of 6 signals are currently being
heard and it would be very hard to pick-out what’s being sent by the green (wanted) signal.
So, by using a filter we can reduce the width of the receiver’s pass-band to a very small
amount, in this case: 100Hz:
The radio is now concentrating solely on the signal we are interested in – The others are now
inaudible (or significantly attenuated). With a narrow filter like this, it’s possible to listen to a
very weak signal despite the presence of strong signals nearby. Something to think about is
that a typical bandwidth on receive with a “standard” radio is as much as 2.5KHz – This is
fine for SSB work, but if you want to use CW or PSK with a basic radio, you may have
trouble picking-out the weaker (and usually more interesting) signals. That isn’t to say that a
cheap radio is a non-starter for CW/PSK, just that you may struggle under crowded
conditions – Think of it as trying to have a conversation with somebody 10ft away but with
20 other people all in the room talking loudly… quite tricky!

IF-Shift

This is another useful feature when combined with the narrow filtering described above – By
adjustment the Intermediate Frequency, we can move around the centre frequency to find
other signals. This is especially useful with CW but mostly PSK/RTTY digimodes. By
moving the IF-Shift down, you can then focus your narrow filtering onto another signal
“somewhere on the waterfall”…

VFO-Split

If you’ve listened on the HF bands and heard a station say “listening 5 up” then that’s know
as “Split Operating”. A similar concept is used on 2m+70cm with a repeater: You transmit
on 1 frequency, but receive on another. On HF, this practice is usually reserved for
DX’peditions (to far-away and wanted Countries) but is used by Special-Event stations as
well. The idea behind listening on another frequency is that the station can pick out a callsign
and then give them a signal report on their clear “transmit” frequency. This allows for a more
efficient series of QSOs because it doesn’t rely on the single (simplex) frequency being clear
before both stations can hear each other.

To operate split, you would most likely use your radio’s VFO-B to tune 1-10KHz up (or
wherever they are listening) and then transmit on that frequency. If the station says they are
listening “5 to 10 up” then that means you either get heard by pot-luck or use this simple
trick: Switch to monitor your TX frequency and tune around to try and hear the person they
are working, that is where they are listening at that time. When they call “CQ” or “QRZ”
again, you can pounce and hopefully they’ll be able to hear you. This trick works very well
on CW.

Radio Ideas

A new radio may not only be a considerable investment but also quite daunting in terms of
buttons, controls and menus… All modern radios are what’s know as “menu-driven”, and the
smaller/simpler the radio and more emphasis is placed on menus. This is true with radios like
the FT-817 and FT-857 that only have A/B/C buttons on the front, so you have to cycle
through a series of “pages” to get them to activate the feature you’re interested in. By
contrast, a “homebase” radio like the FT-950 or TS-590 most-likely has a dedicated front-
panel button so changing functions is merely a single button press.

Powering the radio is usually via a 13.8v power-supply, although some older radios have an
internal PSU and can plug directly into the mains. A switch-mode PSU can be beneficial due
to their small size and capacity over a traditional “heavy transformer” power-supply. A 100-
watt transceiver typically requires 22amps at full power, and many SM-PSUs from the radio
dealers are rated at 25-amps. Obviously, with only 10w/50w on the Foundation/Intermediate
licences, the current-draw will be significantly less. Expect to pay between £65-100 for a
respectable SM-PSU.

The following radios are mentioned here as good starting points for getting onto HF – They
all have their merits, and if you’re able to try before buying, so much the better!

Yaesu FT-450D: HF and 50MHz.A compact transceiver

with a range of IF-based DSP. 100-watt RF output and an
easy-to-use front-panel. For around £600 you get a very
good HF radio that works great on CW, SSB or digimodes.
It’s small enough to hide in the corner of a room, and even
take out portable.

Price new is £550-650, S/H: around £400-500

Yaesu FT-857D: HF, 50MHz, 144MHz, 432MHz.A radio
like this (HF to 70cm) is known as a “Shack-in-a-Box” as it
covers most of the Ham bands. It’s a mobile-sized radio
with a removable front-panel so works great in a vehicle
but can also be used in the Shack or taken out portable. It
offers 100w on HF+6m with 50w on 2m and 20w on 70cm.
The standard DSP offered on this radio is AF-based but,
like the FT-817ND, it can be upgraded with CW+SSB
filters to improve selectivity at the front-end.

Price new is £680, S/H: around £500-600.

Yaesu FT-817ND: HF, 50MHz, 144MHz, 432MHz.A
great QRP (low-power) radio offering all the HF bands,
plus 6m, 2m and 70cm. You get 0.5w, 1w, 2.5w and 5w
output on all bands as well as an internal batter-holder
giving you a fantastic portable station. There is no DSP in
this radio, but you can add narrow CW+SSB filters (about
£100 each) to improve the performance – The 500Hz CW
filter is switched in/out via a menu and also works on
digimodes.

Price new is £525, S/H: around £350-400.

Here are some older radios that can often be found on eBay or in the Second-hand cabinet of
your local radio emporium:

 Icom IC-706: HF, 50MHz, 144MHz, 432MHz. A small “Shack-in-a-Box” that was
released in several flavours: Mk1, Mk2 and Mk2G. The Mk1 saw just 10w on 2m
and did not feature 70cm. The Mk2 improved the 2m power-output to 20w, whilst the
MK2 added 70cm with 20w. S/H cost around £300-400 depending upon model.
 Icom IC-703: HF and 50MHz. A 10-watt radio that is essentially a IC-706 but with
less power and omits 2m+70cm. Great for /P and basic HF. S/H cost around £300

Of course, you don’t have to go out and buy the latest+greatest black-box radio – You could
make one! QRP kits for CW and SSB are available at reasonable prices: The MFJ-9340K is
just £102 and a great little CW kit for 40m. Also take a look at CRKits , YouKits and
QRPKits.com

Introduction to HF – Part 3 of 3 : Aerials

The following is the third part of a three-part guide to help get started with HF, written by
Charlie Davy – M0PZT

In Introduction to HF – Part 2, we covered transceivers and offered some tips on buying

your first HF radio – Now we move onto the final (and most important) part of this article
(and your station): Aerials. There won’t be too much technical jargon although some new
concepts (to the Foundation/Intermediate level) will arise – But, it also has lots of diagrams
so everything will be explained in as much detail as possible.

Aerials

An efficient aerial can work wonders – If you’re running only 10-watts but have an efficient
aerial, it might just be better than 100-watts into a poor aerial.

An aerial works best when it’s tuned to the frequency you are operating on – Whether it’s a
vertical, horizontal dipole or a beam (yagi), if the size isn’t correct for the frequency,
performance will be poor. A simple formula to find the wavelength of a frequency in metres
is 300/freq(MHz), eg: 300/14.2 = 21.13m (hence the 20m band). Therefore, you can use
150/freq to find the overall dipole length, or 75/freq to find how long each “leg” of a dipole
(or 1/4wave vertical) needs to be, eg: 75/14.2 = 5.28m. If you’re of the imperial persuasion,
468/freq(MHz) will give you the wavelength in decimal feet.
It’s true what they say: Size does matter! If the aerial is the wrong size, it won’t do what you
want it do… What do we want it to do? Simple: Radiate as much of the power we put into it
as possible and in the right direction/s.

In Part 1, we touched on Skip, the way in which radio waves travel – A low-angle of take-off
is desired for working far-away (DX) stations but a high-angle is more useful on bands like
40m where a more local contact may be desired.

If you imagine a ball bouncing up and down, it gets progressively weaker with each bounce –
This is much like how radio waves bounce off of the ionosphere. If the take-off angle is high,
there will be more “bounces” required to achieve the same distance that a low-angle signal
would make in only, say, 3 bounces. The signals take a long time to reach (and hopefully
bounce) off the ionosphere before coming back down again.

Coax vs Balanced (ladder-line)

Before we get to the aerial, a few words about feeders: Coaxial cable is the easiest to work
with, and even the thinner type such as RG58 can be used on HF frequencies. Coax, despite
having a centre and outer, is an un-balanced feeder – But an aerial such as a dipole is
balanced (ie: 2 equal sides, a symmetrical antenna). It is possible to connect your dipole
directly to you coax and for everything to work just fine: If the aerial is cut for that
frequency, then you’ll be able to use it without worrying about a poor SWR.

A problem that can occur with coax is what’s known as Common-Mode Currents and this is
where the outer of your coax (the braid) can radiate RF and come back into you Shack – This
not good! A simple cure (and good practice) is to use a balun at the feedpoint – As the name
suggests, it converts a BALanced aerial to an UNbalanced feeder. It comprises a ring which
is wound with several turns of coax, mounted in a box and usually has 2 screw terminals (for
the aerial wires) and an SO239 connector for your coaxial-cable. RF getting into your
equipment is a common problem, especially with higher power operating – The most often
heard issue is RF feedback on somebody’s audio. Their audio becomes very scratchy or as
soon as they talk, you’ll hear an immediate feedback loop of noise (much like feedback from
a microphone near a speaker).
The balun, shown below, is a cheap and effective way of keeping the RF out of your shack
and in the air:

You may have also heard of an UnUn, which is an Unbalanced to Unbalanced device,
usually wound with a 9:1 ratio, these are used with end-fed (or long) wires. The theory being
that the wire presents as a fairly high (around 450ohms) impedance across a range of bands,
the UnUn transformer converts it down to a more “radio friendly” 50ohms (or thereabouts).

Coax can be very lossy when you are trying to use it with an aerial on a frequency that it is
not resonant on, eg: a 14MHz dipole on 7MHz. However, when you use a balanced feeder
like 300ohm ribbon or 450ohm ladder-line, the losses are significantly less. Many Hams use a
Doublet which is simply 2 equal length wires fed with balanced-line (see Dipoles and
Doublets section below). Balanced-line is very forgiving when used with a poorly-matched
antenna but it does have drawbacks: Routing the cable can be tricky: Not as easy to thread
through holes as coaxial cable.

You may wonder why, despite the lossy nature of using coax, that ATUs (Antenna Tuners)
come with SO239 coax connectors. Simple marketing, I’m afraid. Plus, coax is seen as a
simple feeder to use, is commonly available, quite cheap and companies would rather sell you
a magic box of tricks for £150 than reveal that a £15 length of ladder-line would be more
efficient. Of course, putting-up resonant dipoles for ALL of the HF bands isn’t something
everyone can do, so compromises have to be made.

Traps and Loading Coils

Often, you can make a Dipole that’s cut for the lower HF bands work on the higher ones by
adding “traps” – These are a tuned filter that prevents a particular frequency from passing but
lets others through. The W3DZZ antenna is good example of this: It’s an 80m Dipole with a
pair of 40m traps so that it works on 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, and 10m. If you have around
110ft of space, that’s a very convenient aerial to have!

Loading Coils are used to physically shorten an aerial so that it may fit into a smaller area.
Unfortunately, as convenient as that may be, they are generally quite lossy and should be
reserved for use on 160m+80m aerials. A loading-coil can also reduce the bandwidth of an
antenna, so that the length of it must be cut for the part of the band that you wish to use – If
you’re doing this for a 3.5MHz dipole, the difference between the bottom-end (CW) and the
top (SSB) is as much as 3-metres.

Dipoles and Doublets

Probably the most common types of antenna used on HF – A dipole is simple to equal pieces
of wire at the end of a length of coaxial cable. In the case of a 20m dipole, each wire will be
about 5.28m long bringing the total length to around 10.6m. Due to the relationship between
certain bands, a Dipole cut for a particular band may also work on another, eg: The 15m band
(21MHz) is an odd-harmonic of 7MHz, meaning that a 40m Dipole will present a reasonable
match on the 15m band.

A Dipole usually offers a high take-off angle unless it can be raised to a 1/4wave above
ground, eg: 5m AGL if it’s 14MHz antenna. Dipoles are usually installed flat-top, so that they
are the same height at each end and in the middle – But the Inverted-V is another popular
method of installing a Dipole (or Doublet). Using a single support, the feed is up high whilst
the ends come down to near ground level.

A Doublet is, essentially, a Dipole but fed with a balanced-line such as 450ohm ladder-line.
66ft is a popular length, and this gets you onto 40m quite nicely as well as the higher-bands
without too much compromise. The losses (due to the high SWR) on the other bands will be
negligible unlike a coax-fed Dipole. See the NorCal Doublet website for information on how
to build a very cheap Doublet.
Verticals

A vertical aerial is the type used for DX’ing on the lower HF bands due to its low-angle of
take-off. As you saw from the diagram above, a low-angle is preferred for DX’ing. There are
also a number of other factors in making a vertical efficient: Is the aerial off-ground or at
ground-level? Do you have an extensive radial system? Is the aerial tuned to the frequency
you are operating on? Another important factor is the local noise-level as verticals can easily
pick-up local noise such as electrical interference, plasma televisions and other domestic
appliances.

The vertical is usually a 1/4wave radiating section with 4x 1/4wave radials – This is the
“ideal” when the antenna is in free space (ie: on top of a pole), but what if your aerial is cut
for the 40m band? At 10.5m tall, ground-mounting is the most likely option for most.
Luckily, when a vertical is ground-mounted the radial system can be “compromised”. This
means that you can put down as much wire as you can manage, the lengths aren’t critical but
if you can get them as long as 1/4wave then you’re off to a good start. Try to put down at
least 20 radials – More is better. A vertical with a poor ground system will simply be central
heating for the worms!

Full-Wave Loop (eg: Delta-Loop)

A popular aerial for several reasons: It can be installed around the top of your garden fence
for stealth operation, they are typically low-noise antennas and, when fed with a balanced-
line, can work on many HF bands with surprising results. When fed with coax they do not
appear as a 50ohm load, so some form of matching is required: This can be via a 4:1 balun at
the feed-point, or you can use a 1/4wave “matching-stub” of 75ohm coax (the white
television sort).

Aerial Ideas
The following aerials are suggestions for those with a small garden, the inability to put
something up “in the air” or those with “nosey” neighbours! There are many articles on
“short antennas” although most of them are from an American perspective so their definition
of a “small back yard” is about 100ft. My definition is more like 50ft…

Attic Dipole: The loft can be a great place to hide a simple dipole, especially if your Shack is
in the spare room – If your loft is 6m wide, then gives you space for a dipole for 12m
(24.9MHz). Of course, you could bend the wires around the sides of the loft and have a
dipole for a lower band, perhaps 20m. Bending the wires around (or down) corners is
perfectly acceptable – just try to do with both ends, the Dipole is a balanced antenna,
remember?!

Fan Dipole: Let’s say you have room for a 20m dipole (about 10.5m), what about other
bands? Did you know that you can add additional wires for, say, 15m and 10m and a 3-band
antenna? With the wires spaced around 100mm apart, this simple Fan Dipole will be resonant
on 14MHz, 21MHz and 28MHz and only require 1 coax feed.
40m Linear-Loaded Dipole: This is a great aerial for use on 7MHz if you (like me) have a
50ft garden – It’s a full-length dipole but the wires are folded back to the centre making it
around 60% the length of a conventional “flat-top” dipole. The wires on my own aerial are
about 12m. From the formula I quoted earlier, you’ll know that each leg of a 7MHz dipole
(cut for 7.1MHz) is around 10.5m, so cut your wires longer (trimming is easy, adding wire on
is harder). This type of aerial is much more efficient that using loading-coils to physically
shorten the aerial – Loading-coils are fairly lossy and should be avoided if possible.

Further reading on this technique is available on this page: Short Ham Antennas for HF

The diagram below shows how simple this aerial is – By using 50mm lengths of PVC
Conduit, we can make a series of spreaders that the wires route through and allow them to
remain parallel.

Loop: As I mentioned above, the Loop is a great stealth antenna – it can be hidden along a
fence or, if you have a single vertical support, can be mounted as a Delta. Remember, a full-
wave loop fed with coax does not present itself as 50ohms so don’t forget the 4:1 balun at the
feed-point! Of course, you can feed it with ladder-line if you plan to use it on several HF
bands. In the image below, you can see 2 examples of how such a loop might work.

The vertical loop can be fed at different positions, either for convenience or to obtain
horizontal/vertical polarization (or a low/high take-off angle).

CobWebb: Named after its designed, Steve Webb, this is a compact 5-band antenna
comprising 5 separate Dipoles for 14MHz, 18MHz, 21MHz, 24.9MHz and 28MHz. It looks
very much like a rotary washing-line as is only 2.7m (7ft) square, an idea small-space aerial.
It can be purchased as a kit but constructed using readily available parts for around £70. For
information on my own CobWebb build, see my website article.
I’ve just scratched the surface of HF antennas, there are plenty of other aerial solutions which
can easily be found using Google or why not ask here on the Essex Ham forum if you have a
specific problem with your garden/aerial plans? If you’re keen to try something with HF, the
key is to experiment – Wire isn’t too expensive so you can try out some ideas without
spending too much.