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antenna project pdl-II made into a quagi please help antenna qurus!

sob

kc7max
Apr 1, 2012
15
2
13
Hi to everybody. This is my first post.Thanks for having me worldwidedx!!! I'm back into the hobby (I have'nt hamed for 15 years.) I have the bug again!
Years ago a friend of mine helped me put together an antenna. We took a pdl-2 and a moonraker and put them together. It consisted of the quad reflector, the folded dipole driven quad director from the pdl-2 and the rest were a director 1 and director 2 from the moonraker, using the moonraker boom. We called it a Quagi but i know it's a little different.
It seemed to work well with about 1.5 to 1 match.
I have kept all the parts and started cleaning and putting it back together. I have looked on the net and found a program to make it work on 10 meters. I set my target resonant freq. between 27.405 and 28.300 as I am into cw ham and thought if i wanted too, I could use it for 11m sideband if I felt the need.
My first q. is, has anybody done this before and what were the results? I was never able to compare it to a pdl2 or a moonraker and we did'nt have an antenna analyzer or field strength to see how it was doing, though it seemed to shoot skip well.
Second q. is, would i do better just making it into a 4 element quad as I have all the stuff? I know the driven element of a quad has more gain then a yagi and avanta claimed that the pdl2 had even more gain then what they claim a quad does because of the driven folded dipole that feeds the quad element. Also from what I have read the quad has more gain then the yagi only because of the driven element but after that stacking directors in front of the two is a wash between them.
Third Q. is, are the two yagi director elements from the moonraker directing just the driven folded dipole or just the driven quad that the folded dipole feeds or both???
Last is, we used the two yagi directors just like the moonraker, they mount directly to the boom. In my application now with the pdl2 driven element should they be isolated from the boom?
Any info would be much appreciated and I would bow to your superior knowledge...please help! I have spent several days trying to answer these questions by researching the net, my results were a headache! Thanks in advanced,Darryl , kc7max
 

PDL2x4.JPG

This is a PDL4, 14 "TRUE" db gain. A guy here in Oklahoma has spent the last many years perfecting it! He also builds a PDL3 as well. Horizontal and vertical work very well. They are real tight and have great rejection! (y)
By the way if someone does talk you into selling anything PDL and you don't have a crazy price on it. Get ahold of me! I'm putting together parts for a PDL3!
Thanks and good luck!!
 
Can't remember the company...

I thought someone still made something similar to the PDL. I know it's a quad anyways.

Ah, well... It'll come to me.

Maybe Cubex?
 
View attachment 7390

This is a PDL4, 14 "TRUE" db gain. A guy here in Oklahoma has spent the last many years perfecting it! He also builds a PDL3 as well. Horizontal and vertical work very well. They are real tight and have great rejection! (y)
By the way if someone does talk you into selling anything PDL and you don't have a crazy price on it. Get ahold of me! I'm putting together parts for a PDL3!
Thanks and good luck!!

hi iroc 817 , can you tell me more about the directors??? are they put together like the reflector with fiberglass holding the quad elements? or yagi elements holding but isolated from the quad elements??? more info please??? and thanks for all who have taken the time to get back to me , darryl
 
The only non conductive hub is the one on the driven element. The directors are set up like the reflector.

I have the measurements for a three element but not a four!
 
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You wanna be careful believing the advertisements of any antenna manufacturer, they aren't always the -complete- truth, sort of.
The purpose of the driven element is to supply and radiate an RF signal. That signal is then 'manipulated' by the other elements of the antenna. Each 'element' has characteristics that make it more convenient for use in particular circumstances. Those characteristics are both mechanical and electrical in nature. A particular element may do things electrically that make it very desirable but be so mechanically difficult to use that it isn't worth the time and trouble to use it. (That's particularly applicable for quads and everything associated with them, they are just 'bigger' antennas, a mechanical thing.)
All the elements of a directional antenna do not -have to be- insulated from the boom. (That includes the driven element, just depends on how it's fed.) The electrical differences between insulated from the boom elements and those that are not are not very 'huge' and can be compensated for. Which would be more convenient for you to use? Beats me, you decide. Which of those two types of antennas would be 'better' for your use? Beats me! You have to decide that one.
Have fun.
- 'Doc
 
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It's been a good week! Took down a seventy foot tower with a ice damaged PDL4 and a ham 2 rotor last Saturday. It' now in my trailer in the driveway. Got a call from the tech, he said a friend of his that was running one of the PDL4s like the one in post 3 had passed. That antenna is now at the techs house with my name on it. Picked up a CDE control box and switch box today.
The pieces are falling in place!!!!

(y)
 
It's been a good week! Took down a seventy foot tower with a ice damaged PDL4 and a ham 2 rotor last Saturday. It' now in my trailer in the driveway. Got a call from the tech, he said a friend of his that was running one of the PDL4s like the one in post 3 had passed. That antenna is now at the techs house with my name on it. Picked up a CDE control box and switch box today.
The pieces are falling in place!!!!

(y)

Cool Irock ! I scraped putting the yagi elements in front of the pdl2 as i couldnt get even near a good match and the antenna wouldnt even near resonate where i wanted it to.I ended up putting a quad director in front of the pdl2 to see what it would do.I was able to get it to match and resonate but i think im going a different route.Im building a 4 element direct feed quad..Im using all fiberglass spreaders from the boom on out so there will be no extra added capacitance and i will be able to cut the wire exactly for the target freq.anyway , let me know how it goes for you and i will do the same , Darryl
 
Sounds great! I'm going to go pick up the beam tonight! It's gonna be some time before I key up on it. Alot of cleaning and fine tuning before that happens. Plus I have the towe to situate and put together.

Good luck on your end.
 
interesting thread,................ I have a hardly used PDL II and a slightly used MR 4,..... and a bigger and longer boom.

i plan to turn it into a PDL-6 later this year when I get back to West TN.**Jump_im**

I havne't done an ENZIC on it yet, but I think anything over 5 elements is gonna be "ego":whistle:
 
Yes, very interesting. Been watching this thread. I know some people have their issues with the PDL. I have friends that used them with good results, plud I like the looks.

I've been looking at the equivalent antennas that Cubex sells... Maybe one day.
 
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I've been looking at the equivalent antennas that Cubex sells... Maybe one day.

I made an exact duplicate of the CUBEX Killer Bee 6 mtr 6 ele quad,.............. it SMOKES on 6 meters

made it (balun included) for less than $150(y)
 
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I made an exact duplicate of the CUBEX Killer Bee 6 mtr 6 ele quad,.............. it SMOKES on 6 meters

made it (balun included) for less than $150(y)

I bet it does.

Friend of mine, Kc8uwz is a big gun on 6 meters. Makes all his own quads and yagis, they do real well. I just have a dipole for 6. :banghead:
 
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