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Beams FINALLY in the air!!! 14, 21, 28, 50, 144 and even 432!!!

mr_fx

Sr. Member
Oct 8, 2011
1,536
172
173
Kansas City
I now have a respectable station...

HF:

-Homebrew triband Vertical (built from an old Antron 99 CB antenna, some wire and a old coax)

-Wilson SY-33 3 element Triband beam
-about 14.5 feet long boom
-nearly 30 feet wide on each of the 3 elements

_So far it's held up find in very strong winds(30-40 mph)






























For 6m or 50Mhz I took some scrap aluminum and PVC, this allowed me to build a 2 element Moxon, around 5.5dbd of gain and 25 DB front to back ratio... it's about twice the size a 6m square halo antenna... I have worked stations over 1000 miles out on this antenna. The best part is that the antenna has a 50 ohm feed point at resonance without using a matching device and weighs almost nothing with less than a 0.75 square foot wind load




For 144Mhz (weak signal, not FM repeater work) JD (a local HAM) gave me a Cushcraft 11 element beam, it works great... I have managed contact as far as 354 miles... and normally see 80-100 miles

























As for 432Mhz (70cm weak signal) I recently installed a M2 28 element yagi from W0HPY... he works at Johnstone and when I came in to the store, I met him and he gave me a bunch of antenna parts, this yagi was in the bunch of parts... the elements were bent and the boom was twisted and bent... Lee (another local HAM) and I fixed the boom and then I got the antenna on the air...





Also a few fellow HAMs came by to help my sure up the mounting system for the VHF/UHF stack

All of these are double lagged into at least one stud, with 19 lag bolts, 4 u bolts and 1 hose clamp... I dont think this antenna stack is going anywhere...










All together the project consisted of the following:

- 1 Hygain Ham IV rotator and controller - trade

- 1 older CDE HAM IV rotator and controller - traded for (2) two 150 foot runs of RG6u with PL259 ends

- 120 feet of rotor control line, half of this was given to me by a very generous HAM, the other half traded for some HAM radio labor

- nearly 200 feet of LMR 400 , FREE from a couple local HAMs

- misc mounts for free from the Direct TV guy

- Wilson SY33 triband beam, $150

- misc hose clamps $15???

- 65 feet of RG-214u (for the triband HF beam)

- 3 sticks of all thread, nuts, and washers $10

- misc nuts and bolts, $10???

- Diawa CS-201 switch (with fancy gold N connectors) random trade



While finishing up I managed to cut myself when a hose clamp snapped and blood was rushing out... by the time I got off the roof there was a trail of blood from the roof, to the back deck, to the breakfast nook, to the kitchen, I was a little worried at first... but hey it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt, then it's just awesome!!!





By the time I got to the kitchen sink to wash the gash, there was a river of blood following me... I bandaged it up, got another drink and got back on the roof




I want to thank everyone that helped make this happen



What's Next?

Well I have a 7 foot aluminum boom (1.62" tapering to 1.5") and a 19 (20?) foot aluminum boom (1.25" tapering to 1")

I was debating between a 6 element 6m beam built on the 19 foot boom

or a 3 element 6m beam built on the 7ft boom and a 14-18 element on the 19 foot boom???




- 73 to all, I hope to hear you on the air!!!
 

Good to see it all came together and is working well.
I usually can tell if one of my projects will will as intended.
Blood = it will work.

Glad you are OK.

Nothing like a project to bring like minded people together.
 
  • Like
Reactions: binrat
Sounds like that wound needs to be cleaned and some stitches are in order too . . . some antibiotics as well . . . infections are not to be trifled with . . .

Nice job - though.

We don't need no stinkin' stitches, it's looking pretty good now, no infection, scabbed over, not hot, tender or smelly (that is the most important part...)
 
  • Like
Reactions: binrat
Sounds like that wound needs to be cleaned and some stitches are in order too . . . some antibiotics as well . . . infections are not to be trifled with . . .

Nice job - though.

We don't need no stinkin' stitches, it's looking pretty good now, no infection, scabbed over, not hot, tender or smelly (that is the most important part...)


LOL That's how I feel as well. All too often people run for the antibiotics immediately and I believe that is the reason that antibiotics are not as useful today as they once were. People have been using them far too much and bacteria has been building up a resistance to them.I prefer to have a healthy natural immune system to start off with. I cut my thumb to the bone with a hacksaw a few weeks ago. Went straight down the side of the thumb thru the nail and nail bed to the bone. Now that I think about I have had sever "to the bone" incidents over the years.In my 51 years of cuts, scrapes, and gashes I have never had a case of infection and believe me some of those incidents happened in less than clean environments. My wife is a registered nurse and she has seen a BIG decline over the last 25-30 years in the effectiveness of a lot of antibiotics. Now that I think of it the only times I have ever taken an antibiotic was when I contracted a respiratory infection or strep throat.
 
Good deal on getting all setup! Looks cool and sure as heck looks solid. Have fun on the bands!

73,
Brett
 
MR FX
What or what is your information on the vertical 3 band. I have a old shakespeare big stick, which could be done hopefully...
DOCTOR/795
 
Looking good, where did you acquire the tripod for the roof, this has been one floating around in my head, mounting a tripod to the roof then a 10ft mast pipe and then antenna. I have a tv shop right down the street from me that sells something similar but it doesn't look as large as the one you have. Again awesome array of antennas!! Any replies are much appreciated. God bless
 

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