Build a Short Suburban Beverage

A 70' Beverage reduces noise on 40 Meters and transforms into a full-size Beverage on the upper bands.

Beverages: Low-noise Aerials

A Beverage is a 1920s receive-only antenna consisting of a long piece of wire suspended a few feet above the ground. It was used on Marconi’s first transatlantic wireless attempt at the receiving station in Scotland. Its inventor, Dr. Harold Beverage, patented it in 1922!

U.S. Patent No. 1,381,089

Its theoretical operation is discussed in the article describing a 2-wire reversible Beverage.¹ In this post, we want to dispell the notion that you need hundreds of feet to benefit from a Beverage aerial’s ability to receive radio signals from distant locations. This is due to the fact that a Beverage—as a travelling wave antenna—offers low-noise reception and directivity. The takeaway is that by shortening a Beverage, you get low-noise reception without much directivity.

Below we see a short, 70’ Beverage. This receive antenna assists operators transmitting on multiband verticals in suburban locations.