Just an Update on the progress of the 6 meter quad antenna

  I decided to give an update on the progress of my 6 meter quad build. This is mainly the building of the spreaders. All of these parts are at your local lowes and home depot stores. The only part I had to order was the pvc 5 way adapter. The tools are also bought locally at lowes, home depot and harbor freight.

 I used the grey pvc 3/4 inch conduit, because it is UV resistant and can be used above ground as well as below ground. The grey pvc conduit is cut to approximately 18 inches in length. The pvc could be painted with a UV resistant paint if desired. I used a 3/4 inch piece of dowel rod cut to approximately 12 inches. I drilled a 3/8 inch hole in one end of the dowel rod to about 6 inches in depth. The trickey part was to use clamps to hold the dowel rod in place. You also have to drill evenly into the end of the dowel rod or the hole will be crooked. I had to do this a couple of time.

 I used a hillman 48 inch fiberglass staff driveway marker that is 3/8 inch in thickness to insert into the dowel rod. I also used a pvc cap on one end of the grey pvc conduit pipe and drilled a 3/8 inch hole in it so the fiberglass staff will fit through it.  The pvc cap was tapped in place with a rubber mallet and then the 3/8 inch hole was drilled in it.

 I followed the same procedure for assembling the spreaders. First I slid the fiberglass staff through the pvc cap and into the grey pvc conduit. The fiberglass staff is pushed out of the end of the pvc pipe temporarily.
I then inserted the fiberglass staff into 3/8 inch hole in the center of the dowel rod. I used a rubber mallet to tap the fiberglass staff in the dowel rod. It was a pretty tight fit. If you would like you could use some marine adhesive to glue the parts, but might no be necessary due to the tight fit. This also gives some play in the adjustment of the spreader length. I have found that for six meters it will be set even with the open end of the pvc conduit pipe. The spreader can then be inserted into the pvc 5 way adapter.
  If you decide you can glue the pvc parts together for a more permanent antenna. You may also use small stainless steel screws to keep the pvc parts together.
  This is a list of the tools I used to build the spreaders. I used a electric drill with an adjustable speed. The drill in the photo was just used for a pilot hole. If you have a drill press it would be much better to keep things straight. I also used a pipe cutter to cut the pvc conduit. I used a 3/8 in drill bit the is 12 inches in length. I did use some smaller drill bits to get a good pilot hole in the dowel rod first. I used some clamps from harbor freight to hold the pvc pipe in place while I cut it to my preferred length. The pvc 5 way adapters were ordered from green house mega store on line.
  The next post will be more on getting the spreaders on the 5 way pvc adapters. Also the boom assembly and the assembly of the wire on the spreaders. I am debating on using a hair pin matching assembley for adjustment of the swr.

 Thanks for reading and 73s from KC2YTI