Building a Longwire Antenna – First Contact Made! 🌍

Had a little play this morning and decided to try building a longwire antenna. I started by making a 9:1 unun (unbalanced to unbalanced transformer), but since I didn’t have a project box to put it in, it doesn’t look the prettiest. 😄

I used a glue gun to cover the soldered joints and make it more durable. The setup includes a clip for connecting to ground (in my case, an earthing rod), a coax connector, and about 33 feet of antenna wire.

I connected everything up and ran the antenna from ground level, over a small tree branch (about 7 feet up), back down to my son’s football goal (about 4 feet high). Not exactly ideal, but it worked well enough for a quick test.

Despite band conditions not being great, I managed to tune up on 40 meters. With just 20 watts of power, I made my first contact—about 200 miles into Rotterdam, and received a 5/9 signal report! 🎉

What’s Next?

Now that I know the basic setup works, I’ll be refining the antenna and experimenting more with different configurations. I’m really looking forward to improving the setup and making even more contacts!

Useful Links:

• 9:1 UNUN Basics – Learn more about building and using UNUNs.
• Building a Longwire Antenna – A guide to building and tuning longwire antennas.
• 40 Meter Band Info – A resource on the 40-meter band, including operating tips.

Have you built a longwire antenna before? Would love to hear your tips or experiences!