Tell me what you think. If you have suggestions for changes let me know.
I built this antenna from information on this link. Temporary page
The finished antenna weighs 4.5 lbs.
Each bowtie elements are 9.75"long, 5" from tip to tip. Space between each bowtie is 1.5" mounted on a plastic insulator. Aluminum wire is 1/8" diameter. Elements are longer than the CM4228 but I have more aluminum wire so I can make some 8" like the CM4228 or 6.2" like the DB-8. The reflector screen is 8" wider than the CM4228 and 4" from the elements.
Space between each bay or each set of elements is 9.5".
Harmess has been changed according to suggestions on the link. An 18" long 75 ohm coax cable goes from each side to a combiner on the back side of the reflector screen. I took the back off of the combiner it has a balun inside. For the moment I am not putting a 300 to 75 ohm balun on each side I am only using the balun inside the combiner.
I took the back cover off on the combiner it looks about the same as a T splitter inside. There is a tiny farrite donut inside with wires from each terminal wrapped around the donut like a balun.
I thought I would test the antenna then make changes and test it again. I can put on 2 baluns to see if it works better or worse. I seem to recall there is a dB loss going through a balun so I figured by not using a balun I avoid the loss. Seems like the balun thing inside the combiner might work in the place of 2 baluns. Have to test it and see.
The link says the screen should be insulated from the frame. I plan to make the change tomorrow with a 1/8" plastic spacer and 6 more screws.
I have a 10 foot pole for a tower I plan to bolt to the side of my brick chimney this will put the antenna 27 ft from the ground. I also have a 60 ft tower in 6 sections since the neighborhood does not allow antennas I need to keep a low profile and not use this.
I need to go back and read that information again I seem to recall both wires on the phase line should be the exact same length. If the top wire is bent up and over to maintain a space of 1" then it will be longer than the bottom wire. If I make the bottom wire longer then I some how need to find a way to make it so the wire fits in that small space without just hanging down on the metal frame. Maybe I can bend it zig zag like a saw tooth to shorten the wire.
The ARRL Antenna Handbook shows several different length dipole connected together in parallel as one common antenna. It say 1 antenna can be made to pick up several different frequencies. Since the antenna that I build has 8 bowtie dipoles I should be able to do the same thing. What if the antenna has whiskers for 300, 400, 500, 600 MHz all in parallal like the ARRL book says?
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e358/gary350/Ant-01.jpg
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**
I built this antenna from information on this link. Temporary page
The finished antenna weighs 4.5 lbs.
Each bowtie elements are 9.75"long, 5" from tip to tip. Space between each bowtie is 1.5" mounted on a plastic insulator. Aluminum wire is 1/8" diameter. Elements are longer than the CM4228 but I have more aluminum wire so I can make some 8" like the CM4228 or 6.2" like the DB-8. The reflector screen is 8" wider than the CM4228 and 4" from the elements.
Space between each bay or each set of elements is 9.5".
Harmess has been changed according to suggestions on the link. An 18" long 75 ohm coax cable goes from each side to a combiner on the back side of the reflector screen. I took the back off of the combiner it has a balun inside. For the moment I am not putting a 300 to 75 ohm balun on each side I am only using the balun inside the combiner.
I took the back cover off on the combiner it looks about the same as a T splitter inside. There is a tiny farrite donut inside with wires from each terminal wrapped around the donut like a balun.
I thought I would test the antenna then make changes and test it again. I can put on 2 baluns to see if it works better or worse. I seem to recall there is a dB loss going through a balun so I figured by not using a balun I avoid the loss. Seems like the balun thing inside the combiner might work in the place of 2 baluns. Have to test it and see.
The link says the screen should be insulated from the frame. I plan to make the change tomorrow with a 1/8" plastic spacer and 6 more screws.
I have a 10 foot pole for a tower I plan to bolt to the side of my brick chimney this will put the antenna 27 ft from the ground. I also have a 60 ft tower in 6 sections since the neighborhood does not allow antennas I need to keep a low profile and not use this.
I need to go back and read that information again I seem to recall both wires on the phase line should be the exact same length. If the top wire is bent up and over to maintain a space of 1" then it will be longer than the bottom wire. If I make the bottom wire longer then I some how need to find a way to make it so the wire fits in that small space without just hanging down on the metal frame. Maybe I can bend it zig zag like a saw tooth to shorten the wire.
The ARRL Antenna Handbook shows several different length dipole connected together in parallel as one common antenna. It say 1 antenna can be made to pick up several different frequencies. Since the antenna that I build has 8 bowtie dipoles I should be able to do the same thing. What if the antenna has whiskers for 300, 400, 500, 600 MHz all in parallal like the ARRL book says?
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e358/gary350/Ant-01.jpg
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**
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