Met an old ham a couple of weeks ago he had recently moved into a
senior citizens complex and was unable to have antennas of any sort
erected, all he had was, as he put it, a piece of wire in the loft.
After a bit of thought I decided to make one of Art's antennas for
him. I made a former 16" long by 10.5"diameter and contra-wound
aprox 550' of twisted (1100' single) 19 gauge copper magnet wire onto
it, covered same in pvc tape and took it over to him yesterday
morning, he took some swr readings they were as follows.

SWR
1.8 = 1.2 :1
3.75 = 1 :1
7.075 = 1.7 :1
14.075 = 4 :1
21.075 = 6 :1

He did not have a variometer but is going to build one, will post
results when He gives them to me, I left him playing with the antenna
and he seemed to be a very happy man.

Derek

derek wrote:
Met an old ham a couple of weeks ago he had recently moved into a
senior citizens complex and was unable to have antennas of any sort
erected, all he had was, as he put it, a piece of wire in the loft.
After a bit of thought I decided to make one of Art's antennas for
him. I made a former 16" long by 10.5"diameter and contra-wound
aprox 550' of twisted (1100' single) 19 gauge copper magnet wire onto
it, covered same in pvc tape and took it over to him yesterday
morning, he took some swr readings they were as follows.

SWR
1.8 = 1.2 :1
3.75 = 1 :1
7.075 = 1.7 :1
14.075 = 4 :1
21.075 = 6 :1

He did not have a variometer but is going to build one, will post
results when He gives them to me, I left him playing with the antenna
and he seemed to be a very happy man.

Derek

Derek:

That was very kind of you. That kind of help is rare these days--at
least where I live in the USA ...

I will hope against hope that it serves him better than anyone could
have hoped for.

I need more neighbors like yourself (or, at least a few!) :-)

Warm regards,
JS

derek wrote:

...
Derek

By the way, I was just into Lowes hardware store this day. I was in
search of some "Sono Tube" or "Quick Tube." It is a cardboard tube,
very sturdy. They had lengths of ~4-6 ft. The largest diameter they
had was 12" (they had 8,10,12 inch dia. in stock.) I needed 18" or
larger as I was going to use it for construction of a "cat tree."

But, anyway, sounds like excellent material for a "former."

Regards,
JS

On Jul 13, 3:48 pm, derek wrote:
Met an old ham a couple of weeks ago he had recently moved into a
senior citizens complex and was unable to have antennas of any sort
erected, all he had was, as he put it, a piece of wire in the loft.
After a bit of thought I decided to make one of Art's antennas for
him. I made a former 16" long by 10.5"diameter and contra-wound
aprox 550' of twisted (1100' single) 19 gauge copper magnet wire onto
it, covered same in pvc tape and took it over to him yesterday
morning, he took some swr readings they were as follows.

SWR
1.8 = 1.2 :1
3.75 = 1 :1
7.075 = 1.7 :1
14.075 = 4 :1
21.075 = 6 :1

He did not have a variometer but is going to build one, will post
results when He gives them to me, I left him playing with the antenna
and he seemed to be a very happy man.

Derek

Good on you Derek. It would appear the instructions on my page
worked out OK for you.
Can you give details about the former you made and what was the length
of the turnings?
If you like I can send details on how to make the variometer and it
wouldn't surprise me if tha
local club doesn't ask you for a demonstration how to make one.
You have no idea how happy you made that ham since he can now work
anywhere
he wants to as well as the local repeaters I garantee he was not a
happy man in the old peoples home
and having the ability of just a piece of wire
Cheers
Art
Unwinantennas.com/

On Jul 14, 8:16 am, Art Unwin wrote:


Hi Art

I made the former out of plywood and half inch doweling, when
twisting the wire I aimed for two full turns per inch, the wire I
used filled the former with about 6 to 8 foot of wire over. As a
matter of interest you say on your page you used aprox 2000 feet of
wire on a 12 by 12 inch former, from my experience with my former I
would say you only used aprox 1000 feet of wire.

Derek

On Jul 14, 8:16 am, Art Unwin wrote

Hi Art
The details for the variometer would be of help if you could
oblige thank you.

Derek

Another good use for those concrete form tubes is making antenna carriers.
Made one for a three element yagi, A3S, and it works fine.
Put a couple of tubes together so it was just over 14 feet long.
Added two garage door "D" handles, put a plug in one permanently and a
removable plug, held in place with Velcro in the other.
Now for Field Day or SkyWarn Recognition Day we can just pick it up, put it
on the trailer, hold it down with a couple of tarp straps and drive off.
Very easy to get the antenna in and out of the tube.
Protects the antenna and makes transport a snap.
All elements are left at their fully assembled length, no break down
required.
With a 10" inch or larger tube the fiberglass mounting tube for the driven
element does not even need to be removed.

K7SAM

Hi Art
The details for the variometer would be of help if you could
oblige thank you.

Derek

The following explains the construction:

http://www.g0mrf.freeserve.co.uk/variometer.htm

Variometers can be very lossy variable inductors. For proper
matching 2 elements are required.

73,

Frank

On Jul 14, 10:51 am, "Frank" wrote:
Hi Art
The details for the variometer would be of help if you could
oblige thank you.

Derek

The following explains the construction:

http://www.g0mrf.freeserve.co.uk/variometer.htm

Variometers can be very lossy variable inductors. For proper
matching 2 elements are required.

73,

Frank

up that is similar to mine except I split the coilnumbers by two and
it is still to insensitive so now I have to put a blob of solder in
betwwee the coils to short them until I get the right ratio to suit
the antenna. I like to slow down the swr meter so that I constantly do
not scoot pass the right point

"Art Unwin" wrote in message
...
On Jul 14, 10:51 am, "Frank" wrote:
Hi Art
The details for the variometer would be of help if you could
oblige thank you.

Derek

The following explains the construction:

http://www.g0mrf.freeserve.co.uk/variometer.htm

Variometers can be very lossy variable inductors. For proper
matching 2 elements are required.

Oh, that little, that's thing is for girls, see
http://w5jgv.com/variometer/variometer.htm
Mike :-)