![Dual Band 1/4 Wave Ground Plane Antenna](https://i0.wp.com/ki5wkb.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/dualband1-4wavegroundplane.jpg?resize=225%2C300&ssl=1)
Dual Band 1/4 Wave Ground Plane Antenna made from copper wire and SO-239 connector.
This is the dual band ground plane antenna I made out of 6 aug copper wire and an SO-239 connector. I got the idea from NA4IT on eHAM.net. You can find the original plans here.
My antenna differs from his in that I used 6 aug copper wire instead of 3/32 welding rod, because that is what I had on hand, and I used terminals on the ends of the radials as opposed to soldering them to the SO-239. I did this for two reasons. If I need to disconnect the radials, I can simply unscrew them making it much easier to move. The second reason is, I am just not very good at soldering and you have to get the SO-239 very hot for it to stick.
I chose to make this antenna because I pretty much only talk on my local repeaters, the only other antennas I had were a dual band mag mount in my car and my Nagoya rubber duck on my Baofeng. Finally, this is my first antenna build and I wanted to see if it actually worked before I get more technical.
![Ground plane antenna with terminal connectors](https://i0.wp.com/ki5wkb.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG_1826-copy.jpg?resize=225%2C300&ssl=1)
Radial connectors were attached with terminals rather that solder. The SO-239 connector has to get very hot for the solder to stick so I chose to go this route.
My first transmission was on the 70cm band and it worked flawlessly getting onto my local repeater. It also works perfectly on the 2m band. Because I live in a neighborhood with an HOA, I just leave it in my attic. This puts the antenna about 20 feet +/- in the air and I have been able to achieve simplex transmission on 440 up to about 6 miles on 20 watts. I have been able to use it very well with a repeater that is about 15 miles away, which is plenty for me because I have dozens of repeaters in the area. This is all done on my THT TY-9800 Quad Band Radio I keep in my attic.
Overall, this build has been very worthwhile for me. I am hitting my local repeaters much better and have good enough results using simplex for my needs. The hardest part is soldering the V aerial into the SO-239 centerpin.