1 2 Wave Dipole Calculator

The old standby formula 468 freq in mhz total length is used in the calculator for an average height of 1 2 wave high and horizontal dipole and then 5 is subtracted from that number to get the inverted v lengths.

1 2 wave dipole calculator.

The half wave dipole is very simple to construct. This calculator can be used to design a quarter wave ground plane antenna with radials. This calculator uses a k multiplying factor value of 975 to adjust for the effect of antenna wire diameter on length which is applied to the free space half wavelength equation. Calculating the lengths of the 1 2 wavelength wires is simple.

Just grab a calculator and perform the following bit of division. For a dipole or inverted vee antenna. Use 75 or 50 ohm cable to feed the centre of the dipole. The wire size can range from 16 awg to 12 awg.

The inverted vee antenna legs will be longer by 2 6 from those of the horizontal antenna depending on the angle. To make it even easier you can calculate the lengths of wire required to construct a 1 2 wave dipole using this page. Place a 1 1 balun on the antenna end of the feedline. This could be 50 ohm types such as rg58 rg8x rg8 rg213 or 75 ohm type such as rg11 rg59 rg6 or even 75 ohm twin lead.

Enter the frequency in mhz. Even zip cord such as what is used for lamp cords will perform quite well. There are usually four radials three being a minimum but you could use up to six. This works very well with 18 to 12 wire sizes.

It is inversely proportional to the frequency which means the wave with higher frequency will have shorter wavelength. The basic formula for determining the wire length of a center fed 1 2 wave wire dipole or inverted vee antenna 30 mhz or less is 468 freq in mhz for feet and inches or 143 freq in mhz for meters. The impedance of this antenna is around 300 ω so you may want to use a transformer or a λ 4 long piece of 120 ω coaxial cable to match this impedance to 50 ω. Length feet 468 frequency mhz.

The measurements below are for building a simple dipole antenna. The dipole antenna is probably the easiest to make. This calculator will help you to calculate the different wavelength of antennas based on the frequency. The antenna is designed to be fed with 50 or 75 ohm coax cable of most any length with a balun.

A 1 2 wavelength dipole is made up of two pieces of wire each 1 4 wavelength long. The radiating element is a quarter wave λ 4 and the radials are 12 longer. All you need is 2 pieces of wire 3 insulators and a suitable feed line.