The drawings below apply to all dipoles. Quality construction will mean that your dipole will perform properly and stay up for a very long time. Shoddy insulator and centre fastenings will mean that your antenna will be on the ground sooner or later and you will have to rebuild it all over again.

Construction Details

Insulator Details

Lead-In Options

The diameter of the antenna wire is not critical and the length will vary slightly from 0.7mm to 1.5mm If the antenna wire is covered with plastic insulation you will find that the length of the dipole at any calculated frequency will be about 4% shorter. The plastic covering seems to add to the inductance or capacitance and tends to make the antenna operate at a slightly lower frequency. Antennas cut to length will tend to be resonant at a lower frequency lower to the ground. When raised to maximum height the resonance will return to it’s design frequency.

73, Lee ZL2AL