Ham Radio Base Antenna Build Guide

The Complete Ham Radio Antenna Build Guide - Volume 3: VHF/UHF & Satellite Antennas

The first two volumes of this series kept you on HF, but Volume 3 takes you up in frequency - into the world of VHF and UHF antennas, where wavelengths shrink, construction gets more forgiving in terms of size, and a whole different set of design considerations takes over. Whether you're building a simple 2m ground plane for your first repeater contact or a circularly polarized array to chase satellites, this volume gives you the theory and construction knowledge to build antennas that actually perform at these frequencies.

The book opens with the antennas every VHF/UHF operator eventually builds: ground planes and J-poles. You'll learn why a quarter-wave ground plane behaves differently at 2m and 70cm than the HF verticals from Volume 2, how radial angle affects your feedpoint impedance, and how to build a J-pole that's actually matched correctly rather than just resonant. The Slim Jim variant gets its own coverage too, with a clear explanation of how it differs from a standard J-pole and why some operators prefer its slightly different radiation characteristics for base station use.

From there, the volume moves into gain antennas built specifically for VHF/UHF. Yagi antennas return, but at these frequencies the mechanical and electrical considerations shift - shorter booms, tighter element spacing tolerances, and the practical realities of building something that'll survive on a mast in the wind. Quagi antennas, the hybrid quad-driven-element-with-Yagi-directors design, get dedicated treatment as a design that offers real advantages for VHF/UHF work, including construction details on the quad loop driven element that trips up a lot of first-time builders.

Circular polarization is where this volume goes somewhere the earlier ones don't. Helical antennas are covered from theory through construction - why circular polarization matters for satellite work, how to wind a proper helix with the right pitch and diameter, and how to feed it correctly for the polarization sense you need. Turnstile antennas and eggbeater antennas follow, both classic omnidirectional circularly-polarized designs favored for satellite downlink reception, with construction guidance covering the phasing harness that makes the circular polarization actually work rather than just looking right on paper. The Lindenblad array closes out the circular polarization section - a less commonly built but genuinely effective design for full-hemisphere circularly polarized coverage, presented here with the same buildable, step-by-step approach as everything else in the series.

Satellite work ties much of this volume together, and the book doesn't just mention it in passing - it explains why circular polarization matters as a satellite passes overhead and its orientation relative to your station constantly changes, how antenna choice affects your ability to work low-earth-orbit satellites during a short pass, and what tradeoffs you're making between a simple omnidirectional design and a higher-gain directional antenna that requires tracking.

Every design in this book follows the same structure that's carried through the whole series: a clear explanation of how and why the antenna works, a complete materials list, step-by-step construction instructions, and a tuning and verification process to confirm your build performs correctly before you put it into service. Interactive online calculators at hamradiobase.com/ham-radio-antenna-build-guides complement every chapter, letting you enter your exact target frequency across the VHF and UHF bands and get real dimensions rather than scaling numbers built for a different frequency.

Terry L. Barlet (N0TLB) is an Amateur Extra Class radio operator and the founder of Ham Radio Base, a comprehensive online resource built to help amateur radio operators at every level understand and build their own equipment. What started as a reference site has grown into an 1200-page library covering antenna theory, radio electronics, construction guides, and hands-on tools for the amateur radio community.