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homebrew astroplane build

loosecannon

Sr. Member
Mar 9, 2006
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well, im beginning to lose hope that i will ever find another astroplane antenna so im going to start stockpiling parts to build my own.

this will take months for me to acquire, but it will be worth it.

im hoping someone out there can measure the main bracket dimensions for me.
the top bracket that has the SO-239 on it.

thanks for any help,
LC
 

i sold my avanti 101 about 10 years for 25$ wish i still had it.that sirio is what i believe to be the third version of that astroplane.my original av-101 was 12 feet tall and not to long ago they were listing the old style astroplane extended to 18 feet(i would love to try that one)and now this new version looks close but i have not read any posted results from anyone owning one or from the old style 18 foot version.i did see a link somewhere loosecannon to some of the old style ones not sure if it was this forum or one of the other 5.
 
thanks for the input guys!

the astroplane you see advertised currently is not the same design as the old one.

rest assured that i am searching every avenue in my attempt to obtain one of these antennas.
might just have a line on one!

seems this antenna is made of the particularly popular metal called unobtainium.LOL

LC
 
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astroplane build

I will be taking my astroplane down soon...will try to keep in touch...I need to replace some rusty nuts and bolts....will try to dig it up for you
 
I know how you feel about your astroplane. I kind of wish I had my old ringo also. At least I managed to get a superscanner before they went extinct. It is still in the box but thinking about putting it in the air as soon as I can get some control cable for it. Hope you find yours soon, good luck to you.
 
loosecannon and Jeff, I was never able to get hold of an original A/P either...even back when Bob got his two. This was when Henry had a provider with some new old Avanti stock in a warehouse, maybe in Holland a couple of years ago. I had some parts for a few A/P I took down over time but not enough good parts to build one,

I still have my original Old Top One, that I bought from Coppers. I also have a New Top One from Sirio that IMO worked just as good, as best I could tell. It was really quiet when conditions were nice...seemed like they both were.

In the pdf file below I posted what I have on file that might help with the dimensions...if someone wants to build one.

I always had great results with my Old Top One, but the hub in the ends of some of the tubing kept coming loose and it lost its match. These hubs were secured by crimping and IMO time and weather took it's tole on the parts. I preferred it a little over my Starduster because it was quieter in operations. I even put a full 1/4 wave in the top of my Old Top One and it worked out to be a little less that 90 inches" as best I can recall. I could not tell any differences. I will check my notes and if this length is wrong...I'll correct this in another post here.

I would recommend folks wanting to install an A/P do it like Bob85 has suggested. Make the mast inside the antenna 197" to 220" inches long (1/2 wave) and then put a suitable short insulator (1" to 4" inches) at the bottom that connects the support mast going to the ground. Bob used a mast diameter about 1" to 1.50" inches.

That said however, you may still have to add a choking device to the feed line to be sure and deal with any Common Mode Currents. I'm not sure how Bob85 addresses this important issue.
 

Attachments

  • Avanti AstroPlane dimensions.pdf
    3.6 MB · Views: 98
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DB, if you have any interest in this thread and have some time...I posted GHZ24's 4NEC2 model in the PDF file below. I don't recall if I ever saw this model's results, and I have not done a search either to see if it was ever posted.

Hopefully you can do this for those interested.

As best as I can tell, both models are the same...just different views.
 

Attachments

  • 4NEC2 model details Astro Plane by GHZ24.pdf
    1,018.8 KB · Views: 46
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