Homebrew antenna coil In Part 2 I have connected 6 radials to the DX Engineering radial plate under the Hustler 4BTV vertical antenna. com ) or a painter's pole with a Center Tee Adapter. began by looking at a classical quarter wavelength “ground plane” antenna at nine feet (safe height for radials). I had this antenna sitting around just waiting to be used. Having had little luck with an end-fed long wire on 80M novice CW, I erected a commercial 80 meter vertical outside of my second story bedroom window First impressions it’s homebrew, made evident by hand written labels on the front panel, but well built. L2 also is 12 feet and the overall length is 48 feet. The entire length of the antenna is slightly less than 75 feet with the 80 meter portion providing 50 khz bandwidth. You will have 1000 pf capacitance across the coil and in series with the antenna available. By comparing them, you should be able to construct a tuner to your own particular requirements. Having had little luck with an end-fed long wire on 80M novice CW, I erected a commercial 80 meter vertical outside of my second story bedroom window Jun 16, 2023 · POTA with Repurposed Antenna Parts While going through my stash of old parts, I came across a coil assembly I built over 20 years ago. A properly matched antenna will radiate more efficiently and, Most Adding my V. Cover several HF bands: 10-14-18-21 MHz. The total length of the antenna is approximately 295 inches. Use a single radial elevated over ground. A vertical, a sloper, a piece of wire hung in a hedge are all good examples An interesting characteristic can be observed by increasing the length of antenna below the loading coil on a LF mobile antenna. The first thought was to copy the design of the MFJ antenna with some minor changes but then I decided to go on a different path and design it almost from scratch. The two loading coils are described as 67. This project is modeled on M0MSN's 80m EFHW build on YouTube, thanks Mike! Contrast: Loading Coil versus Antenna Tuner Trying to get the antenna itself to resonance at the operating frequency is a BETTER choice often Screwdriver tuning inductors on HF whips Loading coils on CB antennas Base loading coils on “Flagpole Verticals” Sep 5, 2014 · End-fed, half-wave (EFHW) antenna. All the documentation I researched about the 80-10m EFHW design stated that while the loading coil allows for resonance on 80 meters, only a Jun 16, 2023 · POTA with Repurposed Antenna Parts While going through my stash of old parts, I came across a coil assembly I built over 20 years ago. 83uH and can consist ofRead More A Home Brew HF Vertical From Copper Pipe by John Reisenauer Jr. Jan 19, 2025 · Luckily [Øystein (LB8IJ)] seems to have found a way around that with this low-cost homebrew motorized antenna coil, which is compatible with the Yaesu Automatic Tuning Antenna System. Apr 29, 2019 · Shortened vertical antennas have a coil to electrically fill the gap of shorting the radiating element. Make your own loading coils for antenna projects using Caterpillar Grommet. Feb 17, 2021 · I have built many Regenerative radios and decided to give building a SuperHet radio a try. Apr 22, 2016 · I recently built an antenna that I think would be of interest to others, especially new hams who are looking for an easy-to-build first project. Stripping off the 10. Indeed, the TUNE button easily swallowed the incorrect size of this antenna for the whole of the 40m band. Tactical Mini pole using my 49:1 EFHW Transformer. It should be noted however, that the efficiency of this antenna tuner is inversely related to the losses in the inductor. As many many of my experiences (some successful) show the more imperfect the better they work. Other coils are large, and use copper pipe in place of wire. I have several, but in order to get the feedpoint up high, I use either a Buddipole commercial mast ( Buddipole. May 15, 2012 · How to use tools you may already have to make low cost, effective antenna coil clips that are easy to adjust. Whmore The reason for the coil in commercial dual band antennas is to phase the antenna currents so you actually end up with two colinear elements which both radiate at low angles, reinforcing each other and providing gain. This is a T network as explained in the handbooks. BUILD AN HF ANTENNA TUNER MAKE A HOMEBREW HF-VHF ANTENNA TUNER (It really isn't all that difficult. vertical. The antenna utilizes telescoping whips and loading coils, enhancing its versatility across various HF bands. Additional fixed capacitors may be used if a lower frequency is desired. I have a commercial vertical and like it but I wanted to try to build a smaller, simpler light weight vertical for multiple bands. I came up with what I call the "Wonder Stick The coil is about 115uh, and consists of 50 turns of #20 wire, 2 inch diameter. I show how to make a solid connection, and demonstrate how to pin the Dec 9, 2021 · The plan was the following: 12-meter antenna mast Antenna element taped to the top of the mast Loading coil at the bottom to increase the electrical length 16 radials of length λ /10 An antenna mast of 12-meters gives us a resonant frequency too high for the 80-meter band. Plans, instructions and parts list. This project is modeled on M0MSN's 80m EFHW build on YouTube, thanks Mike! May 1, 2021 · Let's get started! Whether your building an EFHW antenna for your yard or for portable use, this antenna will do the job for you very well and can be used horizontally or as a sloper. Raising the coil also results in a reduced capacitance to ground causing an increase in F0 rather than decreasing it as one might expect with a longer overall antenna length. topics include 630m, 2200m, 6m, DX, and vintage radios. Learn tips for folding yagi, softening the tubing, bending jig and make all waterproofing CB antennas Lots of information on fabricating CB antennas Homebrew your own inductors Cannot find the inductors you need for an antenna, a tuner or amplifier ? Build your own it is easy! Installing dipole This homebrew transmatch is similar to the design of the famous Murch Ultimate Transmatch, which is the basis for nearly all commercial transmatches in production today. The schematic of the homebrew matching unit is shown below. My EFHW 20m antenna is a decent performer, so I’m thinking that an 80m version could be an option. I used the coil shortened vertical antenna calculator based on where the coil is to be located in the above diagram and came up with a total number of turns of 33 with a tap at 13 turns from the top of the coil. A toilet overflow tube is much thinner and lighter and Nov 19, 2024 · NOV. Sep 11, 2014 · A blog about amateur radio and homebrewing at VE7SL located on Mayne Island, BC. I found the plans A successful morning today to convert my 40m vertical to an 80m vertical by adding a loading coil that I can switch out manually by just unplugging it. Jan 14, 2010 · make evenly spaced, nice looking coils of all sizes. A $6. That adapter changes the odd Acme thread to a half inch pipe thread. The coil, while effective, was built to use with a much shorter whip and is larger than what I need. My son, Chris W6HFP, suggested we go commercial with the Aug 11, 2022 · Hello fellow hams, i’m looking for a homebrew Vertical Antenna for 40M that has centerloaded coil and a two(2) pieces of wire radiator that has a length designed to possibly fit my 19. Here’s an excellent video fo how one Aussie made his own version of a Wolf River coil. Finally, this tuner makes a great signal booster for a near by radio. Most transmitters are optimized to work into a 50-ohm non-reactive load. All mechanisms and coils are inside the assembly, resulting in a smooth, simple appearance. Nice and simple. Add a tunable homebrew coil. The original constructor obviously had a good antenna system! Inside, a mass of wires, variable capacitors, inductors, a BUILD AN HF ANTENNA TUNER MAKE A HOMEBREW HF-VHF ANTENNA TUNER (It really isn't all that difficult. That's the thread used on the homebrew and commercial antennas I will describe. An antenna tuner is quite simple to build just by using adjustable capacitors and fixed coils. These are used by installers to form protective bushings around the edges of holes cut into sheet metal, I’ll tell you how you can produce similar inductors, make coil forms that easily release a tightly wound coil after wrapping and how to wind the coils with uniform turn spacing. The control unit can be mounted anywhere between the antenna and the transceiver. It’s not a great SWR curve due to the loading coil but I achieved 1. Originally, it was part of a homebrew antenna inspired by the MFJ-1622 Apartment Antenna; but I used it over the years with a variety of whip antennas while “stationary-mobile. It covers the 80M or 3. May 1, 2021 · Let's get started! Whether your building an EFHW antenna for your yard or for portable use, this antenna will do the job for you very well and can be used horizontally or as a sloper. I remember making one coil that was 16" long, and consisted of 1/2" soft copper water line wound around a 20" form. ← New and Special Programs From Radio Angela Alexander shares a few photos and notes from Hamradio 2022 in Friedrichshafen → Feb 28, 2021 · You don’t see a Texas BugCatcher antenna too often anymore. Coils are used in a variety of different methods to match, tune, and resonate circuits. Hi all, here's a super-brief build guide for a portable antenna. The For the loading coil form I decided to use an In Sink Tailpiece. ATAS is Apr 17, 2023 · If you’ve read my blog before, you know that I’m a fan of homebrew versions of commercial antennas. Simply put, it's a 5/8-wavelength vertical telescopic whip with four 1/4-wave telescopic whips serving as a ground plane at the base. 8:1 SWR at 3. I decided to investigate what increasing the length of the upper portion of the antenna would do to the radiation efficiency. L1 is 12 feet. The polyvaricons that are often found in less expensive AM radios can be used for the capacitors and a small tapped coil wound on a toroid will suffice for the inductor. However, I live in a mobile home with no space for radials, Figure 1. Most Texas BugCatcher antennas were available from GLA Systems as a coil Oct 27, 2019 · A low cost, easy to build, load coil and impedence match assembly for the amateur 630m band that can re-purpose an exosting wire antenna. For the techies who want the dimensions: I wound 24 and a half turns on a fibreglass 2 and a quarter inch fibreglass Aug 18, 2022 · DIY Homebrew Linked End-Fed Half Wave (EFHW) Antenna With 64:1 Impedance Transformer (Unun) for 17M, 15M, 12M, and 10M My HF antenna is a “bug-catcher” style vertical that has netted me CW and phone contacts worldwide using my ICOM IC-706MkII. Apr 10, 2023 · Over the years I’ve built many multi band vertical HF antennas including multi-element quarter wave verticals like the DXCommander configuration, multiple end fed vertical dipoles all on the same pole and a host of other configurations. 9: TUNING THE ANTENNA Taking advantage of another great weather Saturday, I strung up the end-fed antenna in the backyard to tune it up today. Would perhaps a vertical without radials be possible and not a compromise? Aug 22, 2010 · How to use tools you may already have to make low cost, effective antenna coil clips that are easy to adjust. This reduces the required wire and adds certain directivity towards the radial direction. Being able to feed the dipole from one end gives you more options on how to erect an antenna and makes portable operation easier. 2 loading coil will lower the resonant frequency of the antenna (adding the coil is adds induction in series to the radiator), thereby allowing a shorter overall height. The antenna above has been described by Nadisha, 4S7NR and may be of interest to anyone wishing to get on 80M (3. A close-up of the coil and beryllium fingers that contact the coil as it retracts into the antenna mast. But thes… Jun 28, 2022 · This entry was posted in AM, Antennas, Guest Posts, Mediumwave, News, Shortwave Radio and tagged ferrite antennas, Giuseppe Morlè (IZ0GZW), Homebrew, Homebrew Antennas on June 28, 2022 by Thomas. On the front panel, the controls consist of two Vernier-type knobs and a rotary switch selecting between 160m, 15/20m, 40m, 80m, 10m DIP, 20m QUAD and 10m/15m QUAD. Tuner Although the ICOM AH705 tuner handles all the matching now, I'll describe the tuner I needed to use with my previous rigs in case anyone is still interested in a homebrew external tuner. It is effectively a half wavelength long on the 40m band, which translates to about 20m in length. Nov 21, 2023 · A newly licensed amateur radio operator’s first foray into radios is likely to be a VHF or UHF radio with a manageable antenna designed for the high frequencies in these radio bands. A device called an antenna tuner (also known as an "ATU" or "transmatch") will transform your antenna system into a non-reactive load of the proper impedance. 5:1 or less on all bands except 80M, which was to be expected. As with all multi band antennas there’s always a compromise, on some bands it performs well and on others it doesn’t, it’s the nature of the beast. Most used are the L and Z-match antenna tuner. I've had good contacts using 5 watts on CW from OK to AZ, CT, and OH (20 meters) and AZ, WY, Jun 28, 2014 · The polyvaricons that are often found in less expensive AM radios can be used for the capacitors and a small tapped coil wound on a toroid will suffice for the inductor. We, therefore, added a loading coil to the bottom to decrease the resonant frequency, making the antenna operable on the A Homebrew Antenna Tuner Carefully Thought Out I decided to build a homebrew antenna tuner because I needed a passive pre-selector network to match an experimental end-fed wire antenna to my QS1R SDR receiver. 7 Mhz The antenna consists of a matching coil at the base, a short mast up to a loading coil and the requisite whip or stinger at the top. ” Homebrew 40M Vertical with Elevated Radials Little Ham History Building, testing, using, and rebuilding antennas has always been one of my favored ham activities since shortly after I was licensed in 1962 as novice KN1VFX in southern Connecticut. Please keep us informed as how it all works out for you. strips. If you have a different gage wire, put that in the coil shortened vertical antenna calculator instead. The Antenna transformer and Local Oscillator coil used in the Frequency Converter or Mixer Stage are pluggable, allowing them In order to maximize the efficiency, the loading coil is large, and, to the best extent possible, metal parts are avoided in close proximity to the coil. Nov 18, 2022 · Above the coil is a 9ft Buddipole telescopic whip. The endfed halfwave antenna functions similarly to a dipole antenna but without a break in the middle. 43-ft. I've also made coils from Centre fed half wave dipoles make great, simple and effective antennas for the HF bands. The coil is wound onto a schedule 40 PVC pipe into which I cut the coil grooves on my small (Sherline) lathe. 5Mhz band. Furthermore, I still do a lot of mobile HF and enjoy it immensely when traveling to Colorado and back. I needed to make this longer though so I could run high power in a comfortable manner. I gave some thought to winding one on 3/4 PEX to match the rest of the antenna but my calculations indicate it would require between 200 and 300 turns and would be almost 10 inches long! I don't think I could count that far, so I'll stick with this one for now! Build a 40 Meter Loaded Coil in 15 Minutes – Under $5! #hamradio #diy #antenna Discover how to build a 40-meter loaded coil antenna quickly and affordably! In this video, we'll guide you through Sep 24, 2023 · A while back I wrote about an old homebrew coil I resurrected and paired with a 12-foot telescopic antenna. Aug 1, 2024 · This document outlines the construction of a homebrew Buddipole antenna variant, designed for portable use and emergency services. 6 length, I found a 100 meter roll of 6 core telephone wire and chopped 15 meters off it. A while back I wrote about an old homebrew coil I resurrected and paired with a 12-foot telescopic antenna. 87 25 Foot 5 Band HF Vertical "The Wonder Stick" A good working hf vertical for the price of a hamburger and fries! by N5VEG I like to experiment with antennas and have built many dipoles for the various bands. Some coils are as small as 32g wire around a 2mm form. Open the two coil links and connect and external coil to the two thumb nuts that are now available. Great antenna. 6 Ft. Jay in the Great Mojave Desert Oct 8, 2013 · The shunt coil was nothing more than 4-turns of the #12 wire used for the antenna, wound using a 1-inch diameter form (like the mast!) and placed across the ldg balun/choke output terminals with banana jacks. Mar 2, 2023 · A small loop at the top end of the antenna serves as a tie point, measuring a mere 1/2 inch in diameter. My main concern here was to put less stress on the wire that is the vertical part of the antenna. May 15, 2012 · In Part 2 I have connected 6 radials to the DX Engineering radial plate under the Hustler 4BTV vertical antenna. Most homebrew antennas contain some reactance and have an impedance other than 50 ohms. My SuperHet radio uses hand wound coils in the Antenna transformer, two IF transformers, the Local Oscillator, and the Beat Frequency Oscillator. In this video, we'll guide you through creating a DIY ham radio antenna in just 15 minutes for less than $5. This was used in an AM directional antenna array. Also called flexible grommets, flexible bushings etc. , KL7JR/KL7USI Use it portable or for fixed station operation! Interchange lengths for 5 band HF fun in the Wild! In my younger days on portable island activating adventures, I used a homebrew multi-banded quarter-wave vertical antenna that was easy to assemble and disassemble and didn't take up a lot of space in my canoe. 6 days ago · Folded Dipoles for VHF/UHF Yagis Make your own VHF/UHF folded dipoles from aluminium tubing. 5MHz) that have limited space available. I acquired this antenna through a musician friend of mine who’s father had become a silent key. I show how to make a solid connection, and demonstrate how to pin the ground radial wires in place. The mast is important. Limit the size of the pole to a 4 meter long, as I don’t want it too tall. ” Contents: Basics; Suppliers; Basic Antennas; Brewing; Masts; Brackets; Intermission; Manual Override; Amplifier Bypass; The Simple Rocker Switch; Debouncer; Antenna Switch; Amplifier Remote Control; Other Things; Home Brew Basics Starting with the dawn of amateur radio, it was the rule (not the exception) to build your own gear, including transmitters, receivers, antennas, amplifiers, and even Homebrew 40M Vertical with Elevated Radials Little Ham History Building, testing, using, and rebuilding antennas has always been one of my favored ham activities since shortly after I was licensed in 1962 as novice KN1VFX in southern Connecticut. It's a C-L-C type setup with a series connected capacitor, a parallel coil, and another series connected capacitor. And as expected, EZNEC computer antenna modeling confirmed that it would satisfy my needs. I was very pleased to see SWR readings of 1. The RF is tapped onto the matching coil which is grounded at the base to inductively load the antenna at the proper impedance. The Ultimate is a HIGH PASS filter, with an input capacitor, a roller inductor to ground, and an output capacitor. Elevate the feed point around 1 meter over ground. Each phasing coil features 32 turns and has a diameter of 5/8 inches. Oct 11, 2009 · If you want to use open feeder wire (impedance 300 or 450 Ohms) you need a antenna tuner to match the feeder to the dipole. Apr 18, 2020 · Antenna tuners (more accurately referred to as “transmatches”) make great homebrew projects; they are reasonably simple to build and, when finished, provide a useful piece of equipment. The adjustable shorting link in the original design was a velcro strap holding a spring-loaded nut and bolt to which was attached the shorting link to the bottom of the coil. Feb 12, 2006 · Since the loading coils were going to be rather heavy due to their sturdy construction, placing a heavy coil high up on a flexible support did not seem like a good idea. The beauty of this antenna lies not only in its under-$20 price tag, but also in its simplicity and Feb 11, 2014 · Build a high gain 2 meter vertical collinear antenna. For Jan 4, 2009 · All right HomerBB good going! You don't want the coil or project to look perfect. Sometimes however, the centre feed is not ideal, for example when you want to use it as a vertical. 7 Mhz Feb 12, 2006 · Since the loading coils were going to be rather heavy due to their sturdy construction, placing a heavy coil high up on a flexible support did not seem like a good idea. The antenna consists of little more than some PVC pipe topped by a RadioShack replacement whip antenna and a couple of coils made from a small roll of #14 house wire. See the homebrew page via the left kolom for a photo of my antennatuner. Googling around, I found a commercial design for $75 and a homebrew design that I could make for a lot less. . 79 Mhz, ideal for DX. ) This page details several T-match tuners. Oct 6, 2023 · Use a short vertical wire instead of a telescopic whip. Balanced Antennas work. AN-SOF simulation of a 5-element collinear Super J-Pole antenna designed for the 2m band. My reasoning is this, typically people use standard PVC pipe for the coil form, which is fine, but the wall thickness of the pipe seems unnecessarily thick for my application.