Depending on how much room you've got you can just do an 80 meter dipole folded back on itself or even zigzag it around your lot and it'll work fine. Just search for an 80 meter foldback antenna, it's a high Q antenna but mildly less "lossy" than load coils. You can probably shorten it 30-40 percent that way.
Worst case scenario a commercial built shortened 80m with coils is approximately $100. Regards, David Lira K5DBL On Mon, Nov 24, 2025, 12:30 Daniel Poirot via BVARC <[email protected]> wrote: > Howdy, > > I am listening to Big John on the Stir Crazy net today. We are chatting > all about what we have done for one another and such. > > I am itching to get on the 80 meter rag chew. The biggest hold up is an > antenna. I am drawn to homebrew plans, if possible. > > I have an end fed halfwave that should tune to 80m, but the length is > pretty much for my little lot. 125 to 130 feet is a challenge... > > I have looked at Big John's antenna plans but I am intimidated by the > loading coils... > > Any ideas? > 73 > Dan KJ5IZK > ________________________________________________ > Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club > > BVARC mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org > Publicly available archives are available here: > https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >
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