Practical_Antenna_Handbook_0071639586

C h a p t e r 6 : D i p o l e s a n d D o u b l e t s 205
Summary
From HF to the UHF region, the l/2 dipole is the cornerstone of many, if not most, antenna
installations in the world. It and all its derivatives that we shall meet in subsequent
chapters provide easy and inexpensive access to the airwaves for everyone. For
every variation on the basic dipole presented in this chapter, there are countless others
in use somewhere in the world as you read this. The author’s first antenna was—believe
it or not—an 80-m three-wire folded dipole erected at the mind-blowing height of
30 ft! Today, many decades later, the author enjoys two conventional 80-m dipoles,
strung at right angles to each other and fed independently through separate E. F. Johnson
Matchboxes manufactured 50 years ago—a reminder that the more things change,
the more they stay the same.