On Saturday March 9, at the EOC, we took a look at basic antenna theory and design, survey the landscape of antenna types available to us as amateurs, and discuss wire antennas in particular. We’re aiming for the goal of having those interested build either an end-fed half wave or end-fed random wire antenna. End-fed antennas have become very popular lately because of their low cost, ease of deployment and outstanding performance. We’ll take orders for components or provide component lists if you want to source parts yourself.

The May and June sessions will take place at Bien Park (Eckles Rd. S. of 5 Mile), and are open to all to attend or participate, even if you could not take part in the first workshop. Time, approx 9:30 AM after the weekly breakfast at Senate.

On Saturday May 11 we’ll actually build  end-fed half wave and end-fed random wire antennas. We’ll provide soldering equipment and lots of guidance while you build your antennas. 

Finally, on June 8, we’ll get our new antennas on the air! We’ll show you how to deploy the antennas and we’ll also have antenna analyzers available to enable us to measure performance and help to tune and tweak.

If you have any special knowledge or experience in antenna homebrewing, please come out to LARC In The Park on May 11 and share your expertise! Also feel free to bring along any self-built antennas as a show and tell. We hope this series brings together the collective wisdom of the entire membership body of LARC and provides an opportunity to share in the wealth of knowledge in the club.

Thanks to Joe, KE8DOU and John, K8YYZ for setting up this program!