Antennas
Aluminium Everywhere!
October 2008 to January 2009
I decided it was time for a mono band antenna on 40 meters. I've missed out on way too much DX on the 40 meter band this year. My old Gap Titan DX works OK, but I figured a purpose built antenna would be better. The antenna itself is built with 4 sections of electrical conduit. 1 1/4, 1, 3/4 and 1/2 inch pipes were nested together to the right length and screwed together with stainless self drilling screws. Next, I bolted the base to an 8 foot fence post, 6 feet in the ground. In the top right picture you can see the choke balun I made to help keep RF coming back to the shack. In the bottom right picture you can see a coil of 32 radials cut from copper weld. This was done as a quick fix to get into a contest. Later, I cut out a radial plate and buried some proper 33 foot radials (60 of 'em!)
Before I even laid the radials out, my swr was 1.2:1 without the tuner, and I was picking up DX for the first time ever on 40 meters. I laid the temporary radials out using some great lawn staples from ebay seller ibidhier. Total bill for entire antenna was about $40 and some hard work!
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June 4, 2007
Decided it was time for a new antenna, so I picked up a Log Periodic from Tennadyne Here are some construction pictures!
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Here are the boom sections put together along with the first section of each element.
These are the elements, all assembled and ready.
This plastic tongue, is where the Collins balun will go.
An example of a boom splice and spacer. You'll notice that I've sealed all of the bolt heads.
Tower cranked down and over, ready for installation.
Now, I start installing elements.
Half installed, I spin the antenna so I can reach the bottom.
A quick pic showing the seal job I did between the element sections
Job all done. The pics make it look easy, but it actually took me 5 days! (Remember, I did all this from a wheelchair, you can put it together in an afternoon!) Note: I've had this antenna up for over 15 years with thousands and thousands of contacts, and I continue to be very pleased with it. This is a top quality product that you should go buy right now!! |
My Other Antennas
80 - 10 meter Gap Titan Vertical
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160 meter Double Bazooka from RadioWavz.com
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