handheld birddog antenna

[Bronco]

I thouhgt it could be fun to make a small handheld horizontal beam to use to birddog CB radio signals. I am not wanting to transmit , only receive. You know , kinda like what you see the wildlife biologists use when they have a radio collar to track a wild animals movements. Does anyone know where I might find a calculator online to find the dimensions that would work best?

 

[Moleculo]

If it's for receive only and you just want something hand held, you can use just about anything. The handheld part of that is going to throw off all the calculations anyway. Make the rear (reflector) element a little longer than the next (driven) element, which is where you'll attach the coax. Then make a couple of director elements to go in front of the driven element, but make them both shorter than the driven element and also the same size as each other.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

You would be better off with a loop antenna for what you want. Even making an antenna like a yagi with shortened elements is not going to show much if any directivity as it is just too small. You may as well as use a 2m yagi on 11m and accomplish the same thing.


Google Image Result for http://www.w8ji.com/images/Antenna/Loops/K9FD-style-loop.jpg

 

[Bronco]

thanks for the input. This is just for fun so if it works,... cool if not, well it was just for fun anyway.

 

[Wire Weasel]

And the polarization will most likely be vertical, and not horizontal. If you want to RDF (radio direction find) stuff. Try the ready to go unit from Ramsey Electronics. Is a little electronic direction box along with a 4 antenna set. Designed for mobile use.

When you say "handheld" and for "CB tracking," I will assume that you would not actually be planning on walking around on foot to track down CB signals. Seems ineffective. More like you would ride around in a vehicle looking for them. This neat-o doppler unit from Ramsey is just the ticket. $169.00

Ramsey Electronics