Newbie - just got my general and thoroughly confused about what HF antenna to get. I have a Yaesu FT-8900R that’s a mobile but I intend to use it as a base station as well. Anybody have any advice on antennas? $$ is not unlimited.
Hello @KK7MGK
The FT-8900R only has one band for HF and that is 10M. You should consider another rig that has from 10M to 160M. Regarding the antenna, it depends on your space and budget. If you have space to install a tower, vertical, etc. There are many factors that you must consider. But we are here to help
Alfredo WP3C
Do you have a recommendation for a base radio that isn’t too expensive?
Right now the two cheapest radios there are is the Icom IC-7300 and Yaesu FT710.
I had the Icom 7300 and it is an excellent radio and a friend of mine has the Yaesu and tells me that he is happy with the radio.
Icom 7300 reviews https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=12742
Yaesu FT710 reviews https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=15395
Howdy from KK7REZ I would recommend either making a HF dipole or buying one they are fairly inexpensive to make and buy and me personally I have made 2 and I love them I spent only $50 and that’s just because I didn’t know what I wanted but using a 100ft speaker wire from Walmart and going to a hardware store and buying PVC cross and buying some coax you don’t even need to use any solder just twist the wires together put the dipole in a tree or maybe on the edge of your roof and I make it all over the us with only my 5w QRP xiegu g106 and my first antenna is on a 15ft mass made for hanging a flag and all you have to do is calculate the lengths of each side if you want 20m,40,80,15,160 then you need 60ft of speaker wire on each side which is 160 all together its funny when I tell people on hf that I’m working them with 5w and a homemade dipole antenna and I don’t use a antenna analyzer just took a literal guess and got it right lol https://youtu.be/haPPUo1KLjs?si=1yVTx4GKfvCvbnGt 73 KK7REZ
Thank you, Howdy, for sharing. A few years ago, I built a Fan Dipole for 12M, 17M, and 30M and achieved DXCC on all three bands. It’s easy to build and affordable too.
Alfredo WP3C