How to Build a Six Meter Ham Radio Dipole Antenna

This video I show you how to build a 6 meter ham radio dipole antenna.

This is another video to help you get on six meter. In this video I explain the half wave dipole antenna and show as an example the dipole that I built.

A half wave dipole is one of the simplest antennas that you can build. The dipole is usually two pieces of wire, attached to a center insulator. The dipole is fed with coax, with the center conductor going to one wire and the shield going to the other wire. The formula to calculate the length of the antenna is Length in feet = 468/ Freq in MHz. So for six meter with 50.125 as the target frequency this works out to 9.34 feet or 4.67 for each of the two wires. Here is a link to a dipole calculator

kwarc.org/ant-calc.html

I build my dipole using ½ aluminum tubing attached to a center insulator that I build out of a piece of Plexiglas scrap that I picked up for free from a window glass store. I added various nuts, bolts, and u-bolts to make up the center insulator. You could also make the dipole by inserting some number 12 or 14 wire inside ½ inch pvc tubing. Or, hang the wire dipole from a tree.

When you build the dipole cut your tubing or wire long, then trim to length by using an SWR meter or antenna analyzer. I use my MFJ antenna analyzer to help me tune my dipole.

I also show my Elk Antennas dual band beam that mounts on the top of the mast. You can learn more about Elk at

elkantennas.com/

I hope this is enough information to help you put together a simple antenna to give six meters a try.


Randy