Today, I made a J-Pole antenna out of 1/2" copper measured for 146MHz. (http://www.hamuniverse.com/jpole.html) I didn't make a balun or choke for it yet, but with the J-Pole on about 4ft of PVC so the elements were about 6ft off the ground I was hitting repeaters about 23 miles away! With my Baofeng Tech UV-5X3 using a Diamond 17" whip + 19" counterpoise, I would have a hard time hitting a repeater 16 miles away.
This is my first antenna, so I didn't check it with a SWR meter yet... hopefully will be making a meter out of an arduino before long...
After getting built and hooked up, no one was listening to the repeaters tonight, but I did get clear acknowledgment beeps.
What did you to today in the world of ham?
Today in the world of Ham...
Moderators: carlson1, Charles L. Cotton
-
TexasJohnBoy
Topic author - Banned
- Posts in topic: 1
- Posts: 1999
- Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2015 4:21 pm
- Location: North Texas
Today in the world of Ham...
TSRA Member since 5/30/15; NRA Member since 10/31/14
-
cheezit
- Senior Member
- Posts in topic: 1
- Posts: 1158
- Joined: Tue Jun 22, 2010 9:10 pm
- Location: far n fortworh
Re: Today in the world of Ham...
I have a 3dfl that I built, it works well. It's a great desk antenna
I also have a moxon that I built also works great indoors.
Both take up less space and allow you some null of the back or can be used vertical.
Fun little projects
I also have a moxon that I built also works great indoors.
Both take up less space and allow you some null of the back or can be used vertical.
Fun little projects