Mounted a Watson W-30 Dual-Band Base Colinear 2m 1/2 wave 70cm 2x 5/8 wave antenna today
So my second DIY VHF/UHF suffered during some gusting winds and the vertical bend down. The problem is not so much my construction as it is the very weak centre pin on the SO239 connector. The pin was just not strong enough to hold the 3mm bronze rod upright.
So I decided to buy a not too expensive commercial antenna for the outside use. I do probably need to give this antenna a better mounting pole as it is slightly heavier than my DIY antenna (so it is now not too high up yet), but the difference is already noticeable with the new antenna being a 1/2 wavelength over my DIY one which was a 1/4 wavelength on VHF. The antenna has 3dB gain on 144MHz and 6dB gain on 430MHz. As I'm not yet transmitting I have not tested the SWR yet but it is reputed to be below 1.5:1.
Photo at https://photos.gadgeteer.co.za/picture.php?/12562/category/219
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Mounted a Watson W-30 Dual-Band Base Colinear 2m 1/2 wave 70cm 2x 5/8 wave antenna today | Danie’s Photo Site So my second DIY VHF/UHF suffered during some gusting winds and the vertical bend down. The problem is not so much my construction as it is the very weak centre pin on the SO239 connector. The pin was just not strong enough to hold the 3mm bronze rod upright. So I decided to buy a not too expensive commercial antenna for the outside use. I do probably need to give this antenna a better mounting pole as it is slightly heavier than my DIY antenn… |