80 Meter NVIS Antenna

Hi, I'm Tim Carter, W3ATB. I'm going to show you how to build and deploy an 80 meter dipole

NEVIS antenna. NEVIS stands for Near Vertical Incident Skywave. You're going to need two pieces

of insulated wire, 20 to 24 gauge. Each piece should be 65 feet, 7 inches long. You'll also

need an open area at least 140 feet long that's somewhat free of obstructions. This antenna

requires a binding post adapter, sometimes referred to as a banana plug adapter. You'll need seven

four foot long wood stakes that have a v-notch in the top and a four pound hammer or a nearby rock

to tap the stakes into the ground. Two short stakes about one foot long and some short pieces

of string about six feet long will round out your material requirements. The center of the antenna

should be close to where you intend to set up your radio. Unroll the two pieces of wire end to end

in a straight line. Drive the stakes about 22 feet apart from one another in a straight line

with the first one placed where the two wires connect to the binding post adapter. Be sure the

V is parallel with the wire Connect one end of each wire into the binding post adapter and drape the wire over the tops of the stakes Tie the string to the ends of the two pieces of wire attach the string to the short stakes and pull the antenna wire fairly

tight so most of the slack is out of the wire. Okay, did you see how easy that was? There's nothing

to it. It only takes a few minutes to drive the stakes into the ground, stretch out your wire

connect it to the binding post adapter, and you're going to be ready to go. If you're lucky enough to have trees and bushes nearby, you don't need all these stakes

Just drape the wire through the branches of the trees or the bushes about five to seven feet off the ground

You're going to be good to go. Just keep the wire, you know, as straight as possible

If it's got a few dips in it, it's okay. If you want to get a downloadable, free PDF file of a plan of this antenna, as well as all of the parts that you need

just go to my w3atb.com blog and type 80 meter NEVIS into the search engine and you'll find it

It's really, really simple. I hope you have a lot of fun with it. You can have a lot of really good contacts with an 80 meter NEVIS antenna like this

And just get your coax cable and get on the air. I'm Tim Carter, W3ATB