The other day I decided to make my own base station antenna. So I did.
And it works, quite well actually. I got my SWR down to 1.1
on the channel I want. However my meter shows im only getting 2 watts of power.
After fiddling around with it for a bit i found i could get the full 4 watts of power. But my SWR is in the range of 2 and 3. My question is, why would an antenna produce more power improperly tuned than a properly tuned antenna?
For those of you wonder here is my setup. Brace yourselves, its not pretty.
There are a couple of old pictures from previous setups in there but its still pretty much the same.
Oh and sorry for the giant pictures I don't know how to make it not do that.
The antenna is based around a piece of PVC pipe stuck in a cinder block
I ran my COAX to the base of the pipe. I split the wire to reveal the copper core and outer braid. I then attached via alligator clips, the Driven element to the core and the 4 ground plane wires to the copper braid.
The 4 ground plane wires are held in place by a state of the art red brick anchoring system.![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
The driven element is held to the pvc pipe with tape. Not even good tape either just this stuff.
my radio setup is a real sight too. Its not even a base radio. Its a mobile with the cigarette lighter plug split open and 2 clips running from it to a power supply which just barely supplies the proper amperage.
1.4 SWR and 1 watt?
And it works, quite well actually. I got my SWR down to 1.1
on the channel I want. However my meter shows im only getting 2 watts of power.
After fiddling around with it for a bit i found i could get the full 4 watts of power. But my SWR is in the range of 2 and 3. My question is, why would an antenna produce more power improperly tuned than a properly tuned antenna?
For those of you wonder here is my setup. Brace yourselves, its not pretty.
There are a couple of old pictures from previous setups in there but its still pretty much the same.
Oh and sorry for the giant pictures I don't know how to make it not do that.
The antenna is based around a piece of PVC pipe stuck in a cinder block
![DSCF0006.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi297.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fmm221%2FLumpySnake15%2Fradio%2520stuffs%2FDSCF0006.jpg&hash=3915b5c46a8ca58599f763d6d5011a27)
![DSCF00102.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi297.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fmm221%2FLumpySnake15%2Fradio%2520stuffs%2FDSCF00102.jpg&hash=cba7f8f04435b8cf507bbdfe89c4483d)
I ran my COAX to the base of the pipe. I split the wire to reveal the copper core and outer braid. I then attached via alligator clips, the Driven element to the core and the 4 ground plane wires to the copper braid.
![DSCF0004.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi297.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fmm221%2FLumpySnake15%2Fradio%2520stuffs%2FDSCF0004.jpg&hash=2ebf5930caa923d6567a3e8c0cb9156f)
The 4 ground plane wires are held in place by a state of the art red brick anchoring system.
![DSCF0001.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi297.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fmm221%2FLumpySnake15%2Fradio%2520stuffs%2FDSCF0001.jpg&hash=3b96ad58227cdb00317da715080c92c6)
The driven element is held to the pvc pipe with tape. Not even good tape either just this stuff.
![Scotch-Tape-Roll.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fpal2pal.com%2FBLOGEE%2Fimages%2Fuploads%2FScotch-Tape-Roll.jpg&hash=e000b073138a71c2d94a004df68ae8da)
![DSCF0005.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi297.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fmm221%2FLumpySnake15%2Fradio%2520stuffs%2FDSCF0005.jpg&hash=f11efee6888fa3c84d72b9b8a262c0bc)
my radio setup is a real sight too. Its not even a base radio. Its a mobile with the cigarette lighter plug split open and 2 clips running from it to a power supply which just barely supplies the proper amperage.
![DSCF0007.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi297.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fmm221%2FLumpySnake15%2Fradio%2520stuffs%2FDSCF0007.jpg&hash=b4c763086353efd9f9bb2caccee6aa74)
1.4 SWR and 1 watt?
![DSCF0008.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi297.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fmm221%2FLumpySnake15%2Fradio%2520stuffs%2FDSCF0008.jpg&hash=6514779b59e930ecfb3c0736486cef2b)