Vertical ground plane antenna

For higher frequencies, a resonant antenna becomes feasible. For example, Fig. 8 shows a simple vertical ground-plane antenna which connects directly to 50 ohm coaxial cable without a loading coil or matching network.

Using the equations shown, a 49 MHz antenna would have a vertical element 57 inches long and ground elements 59 inches long. The vertical element simply connects to the center conductor of the coax and the ground elements connect to the coax braid. The elements may be mounted on a small square of phenolic, fiberglass, or other weatherproof board material. Try not to let dissimilar metals come in contact or, if they must, coat the contact area with silicone rubber. One simple approach is to make the whole affair from PVC pipe with copper wire or tubing on the inside. It is often desirable to have a fixed-frequency antenna with directionality for monitoring a particular station or for installing on an antenna rotator. For example, if you live within a mile or two of a fast food restaurant you can probably pick up the little wireless microphones they use to take orders. You are probably wondering why anyone would want to pick up those signals (which are around 33 MHz). Hmmm. Well, it would be a challenge. Or, how about building a dedicated antenna to receive a distant weather transmitter instead. Or the police in a neighboring town, or a remote airport. Those sound a little better. (When my kids were small I thought of making a tricycle "drive-up" window with real audio from the local fast-food restaurant - never got around to it...) The point is that a directional antenna will give greatly improved performance for any of the signals on your scanner. Multi-element yagi antennas are a good choice for single frequency reception and log-periodic antennas give excellent multi-band reception. The construction of these antennas can prove difficult and purchasing a factory assembled unit is usually a preferable approach. A three-element yagi is not overly difficult for the more experienced hobbyist and several design references are easily found on the internet. A search using "3-element yagi" turned up nearly 600 hits including excellent design articles and commercial sources.