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2 meter Yagi Help

Skyler

New Member
Feb 2, 2014
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I am a 15 year old new ham, and I would like some help on building a Yagi antenna for SIMPLEX to my friends house, far (50+ miles) repeaters, and Satellite work. I am starting with a 2 meter antenna.

Here is what I have

• A Baofeng Uv-82 transceiver

• A 1/2 inch 10 foot PVC pipe

• 3 1/4 inch x 36 inch Aluminum rods

• 2 1/4 inch x 48 inch Steel rods ( I know they'll rust,its just temporary to get it to work, i'll get aluminum later)

I don't have any coaxial cable (don't know the best type to get) and don't know how to match the impedance of the cable to the antenna. What Coax should I get that is relatively cheap? I will probably use about 15-20 feet.


So, What is everything else I need, and instructions on how to get this built and working. I'm sorry if I'm asking for too much, and I don't want to ask for you to "design" an antenna for me, just i want a bit of help.

jhgh77.jpg


Also, I don't really have any antenna book, just the ARRL 1996 Handbook, so if anybody has any books recommended, please say!
 
Last edited:

You write and spell too well for a 15 year old.


LMR-240 or even any quality RG-58 will work for coax for the needed 20 ft.

You will need to buy an SMA to SO-239 adapter for you radio; about $5.

Matching the impedance will happen at the antenna with either a balun or a gamma match.

There are plenty of 2m Yagi designs online.
 
You in NC I have an 11 element you can have assuming you are a 15 year old.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 
Hey Skyler, looks like you're well on your way to building that Yagi. I do like to have a thinner coax to my UV-5R just for ease of handling. You can use something like the one here:

SMA-Female jack to UHF SO239 Female jack Pigtail Jumper cable RG316, 1 meter (39 in.) in length

Lots of them on Ebay and Amazon, too.

You might check out this guy on YouTube:
Dave Tadlock - YouTube

Lots of cool projects, and you could adapt the 70cm yagi design for yours.

Hamuniverse has tons too, just scroll down the page for the VHF/UHF stuff:
N4UJW ANTENNA DESIGN LAB - Ham Radio Antennas - Design 0r Build Your own Ham Radio Antenna

73 and congrats on getting your ticket!
Brett
 
Welcome Skyler! Congratulations on your Extra ticket.

If you're interested in antennas a lot I would obtain the ARRL Antenna Book, either new or used, they're all good.

Regarding building a yagi - here are some basics to play with:

Driven Element = 1/2 wavelength (468/F (MHz))
Reflector Element is 5% longer than the Driven Element
First Director is about 5% shorter than the Driven Element
Second Director is about 5% shorter than the First Director
All other Director Elements are about the same length is the Second Director.

Use 0.25 wavelength (492/F(MHz)), spacing between elements for a start. Wider spacing will generally give better gain, but reduce Front-to-Back Ratio.

I would suggest using a Gamma Match to experiment with. The Gamma Match will work with a wide range of impedance values and is relatively easy to build.

Whatever you do, make the boom length longer than expected for element spacing adjustments for your experimental antenna

Have fun,
Mike, KC9Q
 

Congratulations! Extra Class is quite an accomplishment and you did it at 15. I did it at 28.

There's plenty of good info around the internet and the brain trust here on antenna construction. If you can pick up a copy of the ARRL Amateur Radio handbook. I pulled a lot plans for my first 2m yagi and quad builds from it and they worked very well. You are going to have some difficulty making a simplex contact at 50 miles without a bit more height on the antenna though.
 
Congratulations! Extra Class is quite an accomplishment and you did it at 15. I did it at 28.

There's plenty of good info around the internet and the brain trust here on antenna construction. If you can pick up a copy of the ARRL Amateur Radio handbook. I pulled a lot plans for my first 2m yagi and quad builds from it and they worked very well. You are going to have some difficulty making a simplex contact at 50 miles without a bit more height on the antenna though.

Thanks, I may have caused a bit of confusion, I wanted to hit repeaters 50+ miles and simplex 10-15 miles to some friends
 

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