Homemade Starduster Antenna

[Riverman]

This one was simple.
103” aluminum vertical and four 4’ Francis mobile antennas.
The radial mount is a hub from an Antron 99 ground plane kit.
SWR is 1:1 on channels 1 and 40 and nearly flat on 20.


The red wire is to insure a good electrical connection between the antenna mount and the radial hub.

 

[Eldorado828]

And it works well, that's a winner right there. Jim does it again!

Is the vertical a homemade jig or from spare parts bin?

 

[Riverman]

And it works well, that's a winner right there. Jim does it again!

Is the vertical a homemade jig or from spare parts bin?

Aluminum I got from a local. One piece slides into the other to adjust for length. He's got a pile of aluminum pieces from old antennas. I slid it over a 4" piece of an old shock-cord antenna of mine. It was a tight fit. Perfect. The easy make would be just to use a 102" steel whip.

 

[Riverman]

For what it's worth, the wood was not used to isolate the antenna from the metal mast. Rather, I simply used it to increase the height.

 

[wavrider]

Nice work, The starduster required installer to route the coax inside the mast pipe, this has the benefit of isolating the coax from the rf produced at the antenna.

If only transmitting with low power its might be OK not to isolate the coax.
glad to see someone building and having fun with antennas.

 

[KneeBiter]

Nice work, The starduster required installer to route the coax inside the mast pipe, this has the benefit of isolating the coax from the rf produced at the antenna.

If only transmitting with low power its might be OK not to isolate the coax.
glad to see someone building and having fun with antennas.

Coax is sheilded.

 

[Wire Weasel]

We used to make these back in the hood in the 90's. Use a trucker mirror mount for the base. 102" stainless whip for the vertical. Had a local metal shop supplier of 5/16" solid aluminum rod stock. 3 - 9 foot rods hanging 45° down from the mount. Good times ......

 

[wavrider]

Coax is sheilded.

you think so?
it's your fantasy enjoy it.
the shield can radiate

 

[wavrider]

Antenna Specialists M-400 Starduster

notice the coax goes INSIDE mast pipe

eHam.net

reference to shielding coax or isolating.

masts, coax,CMC or anything

i just had a thought...if i have a vertical end fed antenna (say 10-12 meters) will it affect anything in a good or bad way if the coax was feed down the inside of a long 2 inch mast as opposed to being taped to the outside of it ?..i was wondering about CMC

www.worldwidedx.com

enjoy the reading, the last link goes in depth with many respected members adding input.

 

[wavrider]

https://w4olb.org/files/documents/Ham%20Antennas%20DK%202-22-2019.pdf

good read help understand how "shielded coax" radiates as it becomes part of the antenna

 

[Riverman]

A better location.
Antenna working great!

 

[wavrider]

looks good

 

[2AF409]

Your Antenna looks great but I am curious what you used to connect the aluminum vertical to the stud connector? I marked the area in red.

 

[Riverman]

Your Antenna looks great but I am curious what you used to connect the aluminum vertical to the stud connector? I marked the area in red.

The portion that screws into the stud is from an old shock-cord antenna. I used a hacksaw leaving about 4” of the old antenna, sanded off the paint and slid the aluminum down over it. It was a real tight fit so worked perfectly.

 

[2AF409]

The portion that screws into the stud is from an old shock-cord antenna. I used a hacksaw leaving about 4” of the old antenna, sanded off the paint and slid the aluminum down over it. It was a real tight fit so worked perfectly.

Thanks for the reply, I guess it didnt register last night.... Must be Getting old....