Since getting my license in 2024 I’ve spent most of my time on 10 meters. My only always-up antenna is a mag-mounted 10 meter vertical on my chimney. Occasionally I’ll setup my multi-band vertical out in the front yard and play around.

Yesterday I decided to try making my own 20 meter, half-wave dipole. I used 16 gauge speaker wire, a BNC-to-banana binding post (plus various adapters I had on-hand), two insulators, and a pair of metal garden fence posts.

This is the first time I’ve tried using something other than a purchased antenna and I’m certain it’s deployed sub-optimally. It is low to the ground, in a slightly sloping, inverted v configuration. To say I didn’t have my hopes up would be an understatement.

Imagine my surprise to see this when I fired up FT8.

And my transmissions were getting out well, too.

I had no issues getting onto Single Side Band voice and making contacts around the country. In addition, I fired off an email using Winlink with Vara HF via a station several hundred miles away.

So there we go. This was a low-effort attempt that was actually useful. I’m impressed.