WB6BYU Field Day Antenna Length Table

Along with his usual Field Day antenna supplies, Dale WB6BYU brings along a handy table of wire lengths for each band for the antennas he is most likely to put up. This reference guide eliminates the need to calculate wire lengths in the field and can be easily shared with other operators who need to build an antenna.

W6BYU has published a version of his Field Day antenna length table at the Practical Antennas website

Field Day Antenna Length Table

All dimensions are for 1mm (AWG #18) bare wire. In most cases, they should be close enough for other wire sizes likely to be used for portable antennas. There will always be some variation due to how the antenna is constructed, wire insulation type, height above ground, and other factors, but these should give you a good starting point. ¹

DIPOLE OR INVERTED VEE

ℹ️ https://practicalantennas.com/designs/dipole/halfwavedipole/

Length of each side – cut two wires this length

frequency MHz	wire length ( one side )
1.925	122 ft
3.55	65 ft 6 in
3.9	60 ft
7.15	33 ft 3 in
14.2	17 ft
21.2	11 ft 6 in
28.5	8 ft 6 in
50.3	57.5 in
53	55 in

50 OHM VERTICAL RECTANGLE

ℹ️ https://practicalantennas.com/designs/loops/loop-sizes/

Fed at bottom
Cut one wire, tie ropes to corners

frequency MHz	wire length	short side	long side
14.2	72 ft 6 in	12 ft	24 ft 3 in
21.2	48 ft 6 in	8 ft	16 ft 3 in
28.5	36 ft 6 in	6 ft	12 ft 3 in
50.3	20 ft 7 in	3 ft 6 in	6 ft 9.5 in

200 OHM DELTA LOOP

ℹ️ https://practicalantennas.com/designs/loops/fd200ohm/

Cut one wire, tie ropes to corners

frequency MHz	wire length	sides	top / bottom	zip cord matching stub
7.15	143 ft	41 ft 4 in	60 ft	23 ft 6 in
14.2	72 ft	19 ft 8 in	32 ft	12 ft
21.2	47 ft 3 in	12 ft 7 in	22 ft	8 ft 3 in
28.5	36 ft	9 ft 8 in	16 ft 6 in	6 ft
50.3	20 ft 8 in	5 ft 10 in	9 ft	3 ft 6 in

TWO ELEMENT DELTA LOOP BEAM

ℹ️ https://practicalantennas.com/designs/loops/wirequad/

Cut one wire for driven element and one wire for reflector

frequency MHz	driven element wire length	reflector wire length	spacing
7.15	140 ft	151 ft	20 ft
14.2	70 ft	73 ft 6 in	10 ft
21.2	47 ft	50 ft	6 ft 8 in
28.5	34 ft 4 in	38 ft	5 ft 6 in
50.3	19 ft 9 in	21 ft 3 in	3 ft

TWO ELEMENT INVERTED VEE YAGI

ℹ️ https://practicalantennas.com/designs/parasitic/wireyagi/

Cut one wire for driven element and one wire for reflector

frequency MHz	driven element wire length	reflector wire length	spacing
7.15	66 ft 8 in	69 ft	20 ft
14.2	33 ft 9 in	34 ft 8 in	10 ft
21.2	22 ft 6 in	23 ft 3 in	8 ft
28.5	16 ft 8 in	17 ft 9 in	6 ft

“Field Day antenna length table”, Practical Antennas, accessed May 29 2024, https://practicalantennas.com/applications/portable/fieldday/fdwiretable/. ↩︎

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