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Hello Guy's...Well I take my test at the Minden, la hamfest. I need a multi band dipole or inveted v. Keep in mind I am on ssi due to a dissability. So cheep or free is in my ballpark. If u live close I have to big strong boys that could take it down.
Thank You
Tommy Dies

heap is easy. what bands. 10 meters for a tech is easy.
10 meters is about 31 feet. half wave then is about 15 feet.
15 feet of wire is cheeeep. you can use. a 18 foot chunk of 2/14 solid electric wire, stripped down to individual wires. the ground will be extra.
30 feet of #12 stranded electric wire.

stranded wont break as easy.

insulators. I have made them out of styrene, sawed up parts of
plastic tv or radio cabinets, fibre glass computer product cases.

make the center insulator extra strength asit has a big load.
put 2 8/32 bolts through it to hold the antenna and the lead wires.
use 6inch or so end insulators. use plastic clothsline after the end insulators.
the type of clothes line with a string/thread/nylon interior. (not wire)
Mine has been in use for at least 15 years as guy rope or end ropes.
I just bought a 50 foot piece for about 2 dollah..
You can feed it with coax and you should have a "tuner"...

multi band. ?? then do the math to calculate a half wave at the middle of each band.. then line up the 'calcs' on a chart and
double the length of each starting at the shortest.

a ten meter antenna doubled to say 60 feet or so
20 meter to 120 feet..

so the chart will be roughly in feet

10 mtrs 30
20 60
40 120
15 22 1/2 feet
17
12

etc. try and find a length that is the least compromise to each band you want.
a 20 meter antenna is roughly 1 wave on ten and 1/4 on 40..

IF POSSIBLE GET A TAPE MEASURE WITH BOTH INCHES AND METRIC.
(EMHPHASIS NOT SHOUTING)
walmart or other cheeeeep places Dollar stores have off the wall brand tape measures that still are metric.. makes it easier to measure in meters.
the whole thing including tape measure should be under 10 bucks, pluss the lead in wire.. coax or twin lead.
dont be affraid to use 'rg8X' you are not going to be a contest staton right off.
you can get some rg8 or other good stuff at hamfest later on cheap.
I got a hundred feet of andrews h5/8th hard line with about 7 connectors for $35.. connectors ar about 25 bucks each new.

there is no such word as "best" or "perfect"..
just do it and try it and then change it and try again.

pretty much no such word as "wrong way" either.
mess with it untill you are happy with it.
(that would be about 38 years from now)

thanks for your help. I managed to come up with about 380" 1/8 strandeg wire, its galvanized, and have found a design for a fan type dipole and a 1:1 balun made from 3" pvc and coax. This is going to be a good test for me. i would like to cover 10m-80m. I have the room but the starting height is goin to be about 45' and slope to about 14'. I think think the hieght on the lower frequencys may cause an swr problem. But it can't hurt to try. thanks for all your help. If you see an problem with this Idea let me know. thanks for the input.

Tommy Dies