My 10 meter antenna project

[donw35]

enjoying some free time in my cabin in Big Bear I decided to make a 10 meter antenna with some CB antenna's I had laying around the garage. I took these two antenna's with mounts and configured them like a dipole. These are two old 8' CB antenna's I had with clip mounts. taking the two mounts and drilling them together then clamping them to a poll I got some good results. the SWR is a little high but I can add some spacers to the them to dial that in. was a fun project and works. I am using it with my icom-718 getting good results listening in on 20, 40 meters too.

Just thought I would share.. 73's

 

[Quiksilver]

Should do good!

 

[mackmobile43]

enjoying some free time in my cabin in Big Bear I decided to make a 10 meter antenna with some CB antenna's I had laying around the garage. I took these two antenna's with mounts and configured them like a dipole. These are two old 8' CB antenna's I had with clip mounts. taking the two mounts and drilling them together then clamping them to a poll I got some good results. the SWR is a little high but I can add some spacers to the them to dial that in. was a fun project and works. I am using it with my icom-718 getting good results listening in on 20, 40 meters too.

Just thought I would share.. 73's

It's hard to tell by the picture, is your opposing side grounded? which it should be and there should be no reason for a jumper from the main feedline unless there's some sort of balun that's not visible.

If they were setup for 11 meters you should see a pretty close match and with a tuner other bands should be within reach.

 

[donw35]

what I did is the same as a dipole, one antenna is connected to the center of the feeding coax and the other is connected to the ground/sheild of the feeding coax.

I don't have a antenna tuner yet and until I pass my general test I cannot TX on the other HF bands but listening has been very encouraging so far.

question: with this antenna and a tuner would this work for 20 meters ?

I have limited space and this is working great so far (listening)

-don

 

[ButtFuzz]

The Suggestion Box...

... for peak performance and mo mo mo better SWR.

Get a schedule 40 PVC pipe connector with ID close to the OD of your mast and put it twixt the mast and yer contraption; re-affix your contraption over the PVC shimmy-jimmy.


This will decouple the "ground side" of your droopy drawers dipole from the mast and your contraption will operate nominally...

DROOPY DRAWERS DIPOLE:

FEED yon DDD thusly:

 

[donw35]

got it, my ground side is decoupled from the pole/mast allready but no twist, what is the "twist" specs ? Thanks for the advice and comments.

 

[W5LZ]

Can your present antenna/dipole be made to work on 20 meters by using a tuner? Yes, it can, if the tuner is 'large'/capable enough. Will it work well? No, it will not. Why? Because it doesn't even get close to being resonant on 20 meters. The only thing that tuner can do is match impedances, doesn't make anything resonant.
To make an antenna that's too short for a particular frequency usable, you have to 'load' it in some way, make it ~react~ as if it were longer. [That ~react~ is a clue! As in reactances. What kind of reactance makes things appear longer? Inductive reactance, which comes from a coil, or a straight piece of wire of the right length, right??]
- 'Doc


(That thing would probably work on 2 meters a LOT better than on 20 meters. It's something like a 5th harmonic? Won't be great by any means, but it'd work.)

 

[ButtFuzz]

got it, my ground side is decoupled from the pole/mast allready but no twist, what is the "twist" specs ? Thanks for the advice and comments.

4 turns around a 2 liter soda bottle does great!

6 turns around a 4" form will work as well...

For the "coax choke" to work correctly, each turn of coax must be parallel to one another...

 

[Moleculo]

On enjoying some free time in my cabin in Big Bear

On another note...when you're not using the cabin, can I? Lots of good Jeep runs up there...