Antenna Building Supplies and Ideas For Antennas

  If the weather ever gets warmer I can get back to working on my 6 meter quad antenna.
  Well enough slacking off for know. So first what things can you build an antenna with. I say anything you can get your hands on. If it is a dipole antenna you will need a certain length of wire and then some. You can buy antenna wire off the internet at places like universal radio, dx engineering, aes electronics or ham radio outlet. If you would prefer to buy something close to home check out lowes or home depot. I would probably suggest to go with solid 14 gauge wire.
  The next thing I would use is grey pvc pipe to make insulators out of. Half inch or three quarter Grey Electrical PVC Conduit would work just fine. The grey pvc pipe is good because it it uv resistant and should hold up pretty good. If you are going with a folded dipole, then the grey pvc would work good for the separators. I am using the grey pvc pipe in my 6 meter antenna I am building.

Grey Electrical PVC Conduit

   Another handy item from home depot and lowes are the fiberglass markers. In combination with a length of pvc pipe they are plenty long and sturdy. They come in yellow and orange. I like that so I can make one end the director and the other the reflector. These Fiberglass Driveway Markers come in 4 foot lengths and 6 foot lengths. They are not very heavy. If you need to strengthen the pvc pipe put a piece of dowel rod inside the pvc pipe.

The yellow fiberglass driveway marker

  Another item you can use for a moxon antenna or a larger quad antenna are the Crappie Fiberglass Pole . They can also be used for a delta loop antenna or a spider beam antenna. They are light weight and are pretty strong. I usually buy mine from cabelas online.
  If you prefer to purchase your antenna building supplies from some where other than your local home depot or lowes I suggest one of the suppliers on the internet. You can go through ebay or amazon and find some good deals. Just remember to check out the sellers percentage and their reviews for any problems. For a dipole you are going to need to buy some Copper Antenna Wire.Next I would suggest a Dipole Center Insulator. For the ends of the dipole legs you will need some Dog Bone Insulators. I would also suggest to use some of the Dacron UV Antenna Rope. I would also suggest some Marine Pulley and something to weight down the ends of the rope so the antenna stays straight and also if the tree move with the wind the wire will not break.

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   All of the items in the previous paragraph can be used in many different types of wire antennas. Another component for building antennas are Aluminum Tubing.The aluminum tubing is usually used in building yagi antennas, rotatable dipole antennas and log periodic antennas. Little heavier duty tubing can be used for the mast. I would also suggest various Hose Clamps, Beta Clamp or Tube Clamp, Aluminum Plate or a Marine Lumber Polymer Sheet for mounting plates.
  One important piece of equipment you should have is an swr antenna analyzer. I would recommend the  Comet SWR Antenna Analyzer.  Another excellent SWR Analyzer I would recommend is the MFJ 259b SWR HF/VHF Analyzer. Both of these are a must and do an excellent job when working on antennas.

                                        MFJ-269 Antenna Analyzer

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                                                Palstar ZM-30

By Dimitri Aguero (user Daguero) (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

  Of course there are other tools I would suggest that you have when working on building antennas. You should have a good soldering iron or Soldering Station. You should have good tools for cutting the various materials you will be working with. For the tubing I would use a good hack saw or a Pipe Cutter. These will work for the pvc tubing as well as the aluminum tubing. Other items are various screws, nuts, bolts and lock washers.

                                                  Soldering Station

By Simon A. Eugster (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

   There are quite a few different free antenna design programs out there on th internet for free. There are programs for designing wire dipole antennas, moxon antennas yagi antennas and many more. Here are some links to some very good free design programs http://www.ve3sqb.com/  and http://www.moxonantennaproject.com/design.htm. Here is another good antenna design program for free http://www.eznec.com/ and also http://www.qsl.net/4nec2/ .
  Well that’s all for now so Happy Antenna Building.
  Thank You for reading from Dan KC2YTI 73s for now.