Homemade

[Gunner357]

Im so done with this Homemade crap Ive been up and down on the house this antenna is so wobbly and the best is 2:1 I added and cut I remeasured I checked for shorts etc etc etc...... Then I gave up laid it on the deck flat and got 1:59 on Ch 1 WTH?? is going on do I just toss it on the ground call it good?? I might just save up and buy a A99 or something....




laying flat on deck?? look at the numbers


now i have to climb back up there balancing that thing see if will keep its number at 40 feet

[443 Arizona]

Gunner, i once built the same, not exact but same. and had the same wacky results.
i started experimenting with it. added a real small capacitor between the 2 elements.
also tried a small cap out on the end.open ended. took it off later but it did have an effect.
also constructed a shielded feed coax, kept trimming the shield length till i had results, basically it acted as a balun, also, i was having the same problem with position/location.
vertical was unchanging but i wanted to be horizontal at 20' above ground and that was really giving me screwy results.
i kept experimenting and ended up with a great performing dipole, center fed.
worked great at noise reduction,
was directional for good skipping but also locally had better talking "off the side"...this was a half-wave design. did this about 35 years ago so i really have to scratch my head remembering.
but hey i had fun building it. it looked like a big T and i could turn the pole(2' waterpipe) by hand to get my direction for skip.

[Gunner357]

Gunner, i once built the same, not exact but same. and had the same wacky results.
i started experimenting with it. added a real small capacitor between the 2 elements.
also tried a small cap out on the end.open ended. took it off later but it did have an effect.
also constructed a shielded feed coax, kept trimming the shield length till i had results, basically it acted as a balun, also, i was having the same problem with position/location.
vertical was unchanging but i wanted to be horizontal at 20' above ground and that was really giving me screwy results.
i kept experimenting and ended up with a great performing dipole, center fed.
worked great at noise reduction,
was directional for good skipping but also locally had better talking "off the side"...this was a half-wave design. did this about 35 years ago so i really have to scratch my head remembering.
but hey i had fun building it. it looked like a big T and i could turn the pole(2' waterpipe) by hand to get my direction for skip.

Thank you for the reply yeah Im about ready to scrap this idea it is fun to build your own I was thinking about just going with the Bazooka style what gets me is climbing up and down the ladder 100 times just to show failure.....Ive sunk a lot of money into the hobby in the last few weeks Ive been on a 12 year off air vacation and just getting back I have all the equipment except a base antenna and just spent 400 on a AA230 Zoom But any way Ive been researching all night on different homemade antennas I may just look for the leading store bought IE: A99 or the MFJ Hy-gain Penetrator 500 and use that Im getting wore out .....
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[443 Arizona]

well yes i can understand not climbing so much,, my simple antenna was what you could call a "tilt-over", my end result worked better than A-99 and cost a total of?? nothing?
if you do spend money, that penetrator will be the ticket.

[443 Arizona]

if you have a 1/4 wave ant. laying around, just stick it on a 20' waterpipe.
you will be suprised.

[Gunner357]

if you have a 1/4 wave ant. laying around, just stick it on a 20' waterpipe.
you will be suprised.

only thing I have around here is my Predator 10k on my truck lol

[443 Arizona]

get yourself 300' of heavyduty fishing line, cast it over the 2 biggest trees,
get between them and cast over another line in the middle, use it to pull up a dipole,,
get your lawnchair under it, that will be your shack,
a battery, cooler of ice and vodka, an umbrella, your radio,
and your on the air .

[Gunner357]

get yourself 300' of heavyduty fishing line, cast it over the 2 biggest trees,
get between them and cast over another line in the middle, use it to pull up a dipole,,
get your lawnchair under it, that will be your shack,
a battery, cooler of ice and vodka, an umbrella, your radio,
and your on the air .

Well Ill just sit in my mobile in the AC Thats where my NON Mud Duck is... Seriously. My property surrounded by pines but it would be 200 feet of coax to get to the house.... Im running outa money lol

[Gunner357]

Ya know 1 Thing I dont get I have A Dosey PM2001TS and it reads 1:4 where as the Analyzer reads 1:8

[MDYoungblood]

Ya know 1 Thing I dont get I have A Dosey PM2001TS and it reads 1:4 where as the Analyzer reads 1:8

Are you unscrewing the coax from the Dosy meter or from the radio and reading through the Dosy?

3's

Greg

[Gunner357]

Ya know 1 Thing I dont get I have A Dosey PM2001TS and it reads 1:4 where as the Analyzer reads 1:8

Are you unscrewing the coax from the Dosy meter or from the radio and reading through the Dosy?

3's

Greg

no Dosey hooked up the way its supposed to be......Anylyzer is hooked to antenna lead only

[MDYoungblood]

Most meters like the Dosy have a 10%+/- accuracy rating, just looked up the RigExpert and it doesn't have a spec, (just emailed the company for this info and why it's not posted), should be close to <5%, "Birds" are rated at 3% or less. The components (resistors, caps, etc.) is the key to tight tolerances.

3's

Greg

[Gunner357]

Just hook Analyzer up and all above 3.5 Rig expert is suppose to be the meter of choice today that's why I got it MFJ Ive always used thought Id change directions....Ive had this Dosey for years done many CBs I hope its correct but the Anylyzer I dunno

[MDYoungblood]

If you are unsure the analyzer is off check it with a dummy load or a friend that has a antenna with a known SWR value.
I was a die hard and had what I thought was the best SWR/Watt meters around, when I first bought my MFJ, a hammie and I recalibrated it to spec, checked all his antennas first then checked mine, which were all over the place but reading fine with my meters. Changed the antennas to the analyzer and what a difference in output. I was making skip shots with just the radio's output.

3's

Greg

[Gunner357]

If you are unsure the analyzer is off check it with a dummy load or a friend that has a antenna with a known SWR value.
I was a die hard and had what I thought was the best SWR/Watt meters around, when I first bought my MFJ, a hammie and I recalibrated it to spec, checked all his antennas first then checked mine, which were all over the place but reading fine with my meters. Changed the antennas to the analyzer and what a difference in output. I was making skip shots with just the radio's output.

3's

Greg

I made a set Of calibration Standards for this. Im going to wait and see what Rigexpert says Im getting a fail on self test for a load test Im using the Dummy of mine and a load calibration std I have both sending a error code of 248

[MDYoungblood]

So it looks like the problem is the analyzer, buy it new or used and if used I would put in a claim.

3's

Greg

[Gunner357]

So it looks like the problem is the analyzer, buy it new or used and if used I would put in a claim.

3's

Greg

Its Brand new from DX engineering I even upgraded to the 230 from the 55 I have previously....

[Bluerunner]

Just a thought. Check any jumper cables you are using.
Bad ones have had me cuss'n over unexpected readouts.

[Gunner357]

Just a thought. Check any jumper cables you are using.
Bad ones have had me cuss'n over unexpected readouts.

Yeah I covered all That...... I'm tired of messing with it.... I just got back from a hour drive to pick up a V58 Maco .. and more coax I'm going to start over on the Home made one if it kills me But I just needed a antenna so i got the Maco thanks for chiming in

[Deleted User 30222]

Very nice Gun, like to see a pic when it's up. I'll start working on mine also, sure will make contact one day.

[Gunner357]

Very nice Gun, like to see a pic when it's up. I'll start working on mine also, sure will make contact one day.

yup

[26ICT001]

Hey Gunner, if you want to experiment with a cheap homebrew 2 element wire beam that is cheap to make with no more than a couple of garden bamboo canes google the jungle job antenna or bow and arrow antenna both the same based on a wire dipole wound on 2 canes with a wire reflector like the bow string, have seen a 3 element version but it got a bit more complicated for a project, the 2 ele version works very good and is cheap to make if you already have some sort of vertical mounting, also to get rid of those nasty common mode problems learn from the ham guys and stick a little 1:1 balun into the middle wound onto a little (or big for massive power) type 43 toriod easy as to make look up Peters instructional on the TRX Bench youtube channel some great stuff on there
73 Phil in the UK (we only dream about anything more than 2 pills lol)

[26ICT001]

Just a thought, looking at your pictures the coax comes direct out of the pipe and looks cable tied to it, for this to work as a vertical dipole your coax must come away from the antenna at a 90% angle for a good few feet so not to interfere with the radiated signal, can you not stick a 3 or 4 ft length of thin pipe (overflow pipe) into where the coax exits as a stand off, I cant remember the minimal distance away the coax needs to be but I would think a quater wavelength at least, if your coax runs down the lower tube with the GP in it it will mess up your SWR.
Phil

[26ICT001]

Yes the coax needs to be a quarter wavelength at 90 degrees before it drops take a look at this 2 meter vertical dipole diagram to see what I mean [Please login or register to view this link]
Phil

[Gunner357]

Ill be back on these dipole again since i bought a Yeasu ft920 and Im using a V58 atm swr needs to be adjusted