Every active ham uses an antenna.
The RF signal somehow leaves their antenna and is picked up by an antenna on the other end of a QSO, but to many hams this is a mysterious process. This page has pointers to a number of articles that have appeared in QST over the years on antenna theory. Reading these articles will help you answer that question for your station, and for your friends. See also the list of other articles about antenna theory . To view and print these files, you'll need a copy of Adobe's Acrobat Reader program.