Wire multi-band Lazy H antenna for covering 13 Mhz to 30 MHz

Wire multi-band Lazy H antenna for covering 13 Mhz to 30 MHz including the CB band.
1/2 wave elements and 1/2 wave vertical spacing at 27 MHz (The CB Band). Read the full description below for helpful hints on building the antenna.Show more

These are a few things I learned while making the Lazy H antennas that are not in the books.

1) Make sure the ladder line coming away from the antenna is perpendicular to the plane of the antenna for at least a wavelength. Initially I had the ladder line coming away from the antenna at a 45 degree angle, and it skewed the radiation pattern of the antenna in the direction of the ladder line.

2) Adjust the length of the ladder line from the antenna to the balun at the tuner so that a minimum amount of inductance is required to tune the antenna tuner. If the length requires a large amount of inductance at the tuner the balun will get much hotter even at power levels way below the balun's specified rating.

3) Ladder line is affected by water, so expect the SWR to change sharply when the ladder line is wet. The SWR will return to normal once the ladder line is dry.

4) The vertical ropes used to set the spacing between the top and bottom elements will stretch over time and change the top to bottom element spacing. Take the antenna down after a few months and remeasure the length of the vertical ropes. I have seen the length increase by as much as a foot and a half over the first year.

5) Make sure the balun you are using is good. The built in balun on my antenna tuner was crap and prevented the antenna from working correctly on the first few tries. I replaced it with an external 4:1 balun and a short jumper. The Lazy H lit up and performed as expected once the bad built in balun was out of the picture.