The primary goal for any SOTA antenna is to be lightweight while also being somewhat efficient. Typically setups use low power (unless you have strong arms!) so we want to get the best out of them.

We have to also consider the support structure for the antennas as well as the antennas themselves. Fiberglass poles are popular as they won’t detune any attached antennas.

To-do: add info and links.

Wire antennas tend to be the most popular antennas for HF SOTA activities due to their lightweight properties. Beams aren’t too popular due to their complexity, but that doesn’t mean people don’t try! Typically these wire antennas are fed from one end of the wire, resulting in a high impedance. This a transformer is used to bring the impedance down to the required 50 Ohms.

Wire antennas also require very minimal support structures. One or two poles can be used, and you may get away with not requiring guy wires as well in some situations.

Here’s some DIY plans for some wire antennas that are used a lot for SOTA.

• M0UKD Random wire antenna using a 9:1 transformer
• End-fed half-wave antenna using a 49:1 transformer (versions for 64:1 transformers also exist)

You can, of course, buy these pre-made or in kit form from various retailers as well.

At this wavelength beam antennas become small enough to bring up hills. Yagi antennas for 2m are not uncommon, but for the vast majority of people a vertical antenna may be fine.

• Links to Yagi plans

Popular vertical antennas include coax dipole types, 1/4 ground plane antennas with some radials, or j-pole/Slim Jims made from ladder line. A mast of some kind is useful to get them up high for better line of sight to the horizon.

• Links to vertical antenna plans

Dipole antennas of various types are also popular for portable VHF/UHF expeditions, and some people use them to good effect on SOTA trips.

• Links to dipole antenna plans