DIY Antennas, QRP, SDR & Ham Radio Projects from VU3DXR
The Antenna category collects all of our HF, VHF, and UHF antenna designs in one place — from compact balcony loops to multiband wire antennas and portable verticals. You’ll find step‑by‑step builds for 80 m to 70 cm, including delta loops, trapped dipoles, doublets, magnetic loops, collinears, J‑poles, Moxons, and more, each with practical dimensions and matching options that actually work on the air.
Many designs are optimised for small plots, apartments, and portable operation, with notes on noise behaviour, radiation patterns, SWR results, and tuning tricks. Whether you are chasing DX on 40 m, experimenting on 6 m “magic band,” or improving repeater coverage on 2 m and 70 cm, this section helps you choose and build the right antenna for your station
The inverted rhombic antenna boasts a distinctive half-rhombic configuration. Its directivity focuses toward the terminated end, enhancing signal precision. Developed by Bruce, it demands a non-conductive mast for optimal performance. This design delivers significant gain across the 50 to 70MHz bands. A non-inductive terminating resistor is essential, tailored to the RF power delivered. For SSB […]
Terminated End Fed V Antenna (TEFV) – It Is a travelling wave antenna, which has a constant current distribution along its length.
This loop antenna is based on one published in one of back issues of sprat by DL1HCU. It worked well with QRP power from 20-10 metres, including WARC bands. The tuning capacitor is twin gang type salvaged from old radio. The foldaway loop antenna represents one of amateur radio’s most ingenious space-saving designs, offering impressive […]
Rockloop HF antenna for 10,15,20 metre ham bands The Rockloop HF Antenna ‘s a tuned loop antenna measuring 33 feet square (10m x 10m) designed for 15m, 20m, and 30m bands.This rock loop antenna tunes to 15 meter band with 15 to 20pf,20 meters with about 30pf, and 30 meters with about 60pf, much suitable […]
Beautiful images received from NOAA19 weather satellite with experimental V dipole antenna Location – Krishnagiri, Tamilnadu, India Receiving Hardware – RTL SDR with experimental v dipole antenna. Receiving NOAA-19 Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) signals presents an exciting opportunity for radio enthusiasts to explore satellite communications while experimenting with antenna designs. The V-dipole antenna configuration offers […]
NOAA19 weather satellite reception with experimental v dipole antenna Date – 18.01.2022 Location – Krishnagiri, Tamilnadu, India Receiving Hardware – RTL SDR with experimental v dipole antenna. NOAA 18 and NOAA 19 weather satellites provide free accessible weather data continuously through Automatic Picture Transmission at 137.9125 MHz and 137.1000 MHz frequencies. RTL-SDR TUTORIAL: RECEIVING NOAA […]
DIY – 137 Mhz V-dipole antenna for weather satellites reception D.Prabakaran VU3DXR A V-dipole for NOAA weather satellites on 137 MHz has been published by 9A4QV and it seems to get very good results. The designed antenna works at frequency 137 Mhz with omnidirectional radiation pattern. The length of the each leg should include the […]