The image above shows my “Hustler” mobile antenna for the 20 meter amateur radio band.

It is mounted on my deck and is small enough not to attract the attention of our homeowners association.

For this set up to work, one has to provide radial wires as with any vertical antenna.  We use a inexpensive radial plate purchased on eBay shown below.

This setup doesn’t work as well as a 20M dipole but it is much smaller and can withstand harsh weather conditions so it’s always available.

With the Hustler mobile antenna I am able to communicate with people in the United States where our base is located.

With the 20M dipole I can also reach Europe. The dipole is home made and is put up with a very long, fiberglass fishing pole. It is easy to put up and take down but is not strong enough to endure harsh weather. The fishing pole extends to about 38 ft. high, with each leg of the dipole being about 16.5 ft. in length. This configuration creates an inverted V. It is very inexpensive to make and not very difficult to build.

  Our 20 M homemade dipole

This is the calculation used to make the 20M dipole:

Frequency for 20 Meters is 14.2 MHz

Formula

468 / Freq in Mhz.

468 / 14.2 = 32.9ft round it off to 33ft

33ft / 2 = 16.5ft each leg of dipole.