[CQ] " Marconi spins in his grave everytime a ham buys an aerial instead of building it. "

[Michael Shiloh]

Gotta love this guy:

http://www.qsl.net/wb1gfh/antenna.html

I recommend you read the whole article

Such gems as:

"Back during the disco era when I first got on the air, I
got a pair of really cool antique pyrex antenna
insulators from a flea market table in Derry, NH
for 25 cents each. They looked like the kind Hiram
Percy Maxim used in 1910, and seemed able to pull in
exotic DX all by themselves. The other day I found out
that Radio Shack wants $5 apiece for insulators made
from some kind of white plastic crap. So I improvised
my own by sawing up pieces of an acrylic adjusting rod
from a discarded miniblind. I think Hiram would've
been proud of me.

and

"Ham Tradition

Today's new hams have been cheated out of the constructive experience of 
being harangued and berated by crabby old "Elmers" preaching about how 
they did things in the "good old days", so I am taking it upon myself to 
provide you with a taste of it here.

There is very little experimentation among hams these days, and most 
stations are cookie-cutter duplicates of one another: same antenna, same 
Japanese transceiver, same 599 QSO. This is not the ham radio tradition 
of old. In the 1930's and 40's you might find one ham using twisted bell 
wire as a feedline. Another might be using bare electric fence wire on 
ceramic standoffs nailed to wooden planks. Another might be using copper 
tubing. Or pieces of metal roofing. Or auto ignition cable. Or tin cans 
soldered together. If you looked at their stations you'd discover a 
wealth of marvelous invention, idosyncratic design, and an incredible 
ability to press available objects and materials into service. During 
the 1960's, groups of hams would get together to swill cases of beer and 
then make antennas out of the discarded cans by soldering them together, 
end-to-end. Improvise. Experiment. Take notes of what works and what 
doesn't. This is what ham radio is all about.





When you put up your antenna is also crucial. I must mention here the 
importance of what many early hams called "antenna weather". That is, 
snow, sleet, freezing rain, or combination of all the above. It has been 
proven time and time again that any antenna installed in conditions 
better than abysmal will not function worth a damn. Or, put another way, 
it takes bad weather to put up a decent antenna. Dark and cold New 
England winter days are ideal for this activity. Any antenna erected on 
such a day will inevitably produce miracles.




Many of you will recognize THE $4 SPECIAL's design as the venerable 
"double zepp" aerial, a variation of the "end-fed Zepp" -- the skyhook 
responsible for the dramatic Hindenberg tragedy in Lakehurst, NJ. It 
seems the blimp's radio op decided to work a little DX while waiting for 
landing clearance. He sent out a few CQ's. Unknown to him, the ladder 
line had twisted in the breeze, shorting the bare conductors. A 
brilliant spark flared up, and....well, that's another story altogether.

To see an "end-fed Zepp" version of the $4 Special, click here.

Alas, I never had a 100 foot tower to hang this antenna from. The one in 
Mass. was up 50 ft. and worked what I considered terrific DX. The one I 
have now is only up 30 ft. and gets good to average results. It won't 
outdo a yagi at 100 feet. Very few things will.

But for $4....who can complain?!