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Homebrew is an amateur radio slang term for home-built, noncommercial radio equipment. [1] Design and construction of equipment from first principles is valued by amateur radio hobbyists, known as "hams", for educational value, and to allow experimentation and development of techniques or levels of performance not readily available as commercial products.
Broadband shortwave base antennas traditionally fall into two main categories: Resistively loaded antennas which can be inexpensive and reasonably compact but inefficient at lower frequencies. Large elaborate and very expensive, non-loaded designs. (These can cost upward of $80,000 to purchase and install).
Hexbeam amateur radio antenna. A hexbeam, or hexagonal-beam, is a type of a directional antenna for shortwave, most often used in amateur radio. The name comes from the hexagonal outer shape of the antenna. It may also sometimes be known as a W-antenna, referring to the shape of the driver. The design looks something like an upturned umbrella.
For example, an antenna for the lower portion of shortwave (say, 3–18 MHz) will be roughly 33 m (110 feet) long, with conductors spaced 1 m (3.3 feet). For the higher portion of shortwave (5–30 MHz), this antenna will be roughly 20 m (66 feet) long, with a spacing of 60 cm (24 inches).
According to author Richard H. Arland, interest in glowbugs has increased among QRP enthusiasts and others with a penchant for constructing their own equipment, and many hams are assembling simple HF CW transmitters. Amateur radio Glowbug enthusiasts can often be heard communicating on the shortwave bands via CW using Morse code. [21]
For transmissions in the shortwave range, there is little to be gained by raising the antenna more than a half to three quarters of a wavelength above ground level, and at lower frequencies and longer wavelengths, the height becomes infeasibly great (greater than 85 metres (279 ft)). Shortwave transmitters rarely use masts taller than about 100 ...