for those of you that went through signal AIT at Ft. Gordon, you probably know that we got absolutely NO training on field expedient antennas.

I am in the reserves and my unit just got back from our annual training. At one point we needed to construct a field expedient antenna and nobody could do it the proper way.

I have been googling for hours and have not found anything that actually shows me how to do this. I have found plenty of army-type publications that show different setups but none give a step by step instruction or even a good explanation that will help me understand this better.

does anybody know of a good guide to constructing a field expedient antenna or does anybody know enough about this to answer my questions?

If I can inject here,

Check FM 23-10 Chapt 7. It gives examples and the formulas for proper antenna length.

Remember, save the plastic spoons from your MREs, they help.

Oh its pretty simple, just get some WD1A-TT or WF-16, a bearing of your intended target, and a mast or tree. Feed your signal into the near end and it will lob off the far end. Its the same technique you use with a GRA-50 and I used them to talk from An Nasiriyah to Al Jabber in Kuwait clear as a bell when the tropho was down (as it frequently was)

Here's the book answer:
Full wave: 984 divided by frequency in MHz equals the length in feet
One-half wave: 492 divided by the frequency in MHz equals the length in feet
One-quarter wave: 246 divided by the frequency in MHz equals the length in feet

But in reality it should be closer to:
Full wave = 936 divided by frequency
1/2 wave = 468 divided by frequency
1/4 wave = 234 divided by frequency
1/8 wave = 117 divided by frequency

thanks to the velocity factor and propagation speed in the conductor. The better the conductor the shorter length, the worse the conductor, the longer it becomes
(Vp = 1 / SQRT (dielectric constant)) where the dialectric constant is the specific conductivity of the material you're using. More copper lower factor

Field expedients work best with radios you can tune.

One of the Signal Corps 8astard step children taught at Ft Sill, OK 31V

Here is one not in the FM I put together in Korea. It is basicly a Gra50 for the active element, with a reflector, and several directors, for the desired frequicey. I used a old PRC 74, HF SSB/CW radio with 15 watts pep, and talked to the States daily with it.




The very light shaded sections are the wires, while the darker are the supporting halyards. It performed as well as a full rhombic, but in a much smaller area.

Nice wd4ngb!

While I was in Korea 85-87 AM was forbidden. Its a shame since we had a AN/GRC-106 with amplifier and could have done the same thing if the intel guys werent watching us so closely.