Antenna Party Invitation from OCRA
Durham ARES is invited to an antenna building party at the Orange Co EOC on Sat January 30th, 2010 from 0930a-1130aIf you plan to attend, you will need to RSVP by Friday Jan 15th so materials can be obtained for the workshop.
Click "READ MORE" below for details....
73's
Randy K4XRM
Need another antenna or two? Want to tackle a simple project, learn a little about antennas and have some fun?
OCRA is throwing an antenna building party at the Orange County EOC in Hillsborough (normal meeting place) from 0930 - 1130 on Saturday, January 30th. All materials and instructions will be supplied, along with a test station to verify it works before you leave. We will be ordering the material on January 15th, so please reply before then indicating which style and quantity you would like to purchase. If you are not able to attend on 1/30, we can make arrangements for you to get the material and help testing the antenna at some future date. If you have never built an antenna before, this is a good first project, with plenty of help available to learn basic soldering skills, assembling a coax connector, etc.
Two styles of J-pole antennas are available:
A flexible roll-up version that can hang from a limb, building or a nail and rolls up for easy storage in your go-kit. With a suitable connector adapter, this is a good way to extend the range and battery life of your HT. This comes with 10' of RG-8X coax and PL-259 connector. The kit cost is $10 each.
A rigid PVC pipe version, suitable for mounting on a mast or building. An SO-239 (UHF-style) connector is mounted on the bottom end cap. The pipe is gray 3/4" PVC electrical conduit, six feet long, which withstands exposure to sunlight much better than the white PVC. The antenna inside the pipe is similar to the roll-up version, but most of the dimensions are shorter due to the added dielectric effect of the pipe. The kit cost is $13 each. Hardware to mount the antenna to a mast or building is not included in the kit.
These are both true dual-band half-wavelength vertical antennas which do not require a ground plane. VSWR is less than 2:1 across both the 2M VHF and 70cm UHF bands when mounted in the clear. They have at least 6 dB more gain than a quarter wave antenna. Maximum power is about 75 watts.
You can look at similar antenna designs in this Group's File area in the Emergency Communications / Portable Station folder. The exact dimension of our antennas will vary slightly due to different type of twinlead and coax being used.
Please bring the following tools to the antenna party if you have them available:
50-75 watt soldering iron.
Sharp knife for stripping insulation.
Small diagonal or flush wire cutters.
"Helping Hands" stand (dual aligator clips on base to hold wires while soldering).
We will be working in teams, so don't worry if you don't have any tools to bring.
If you order more than one antenna kit, there may not be sufficient time to finish the additional kits, but we will find a way to help you test them when they are done.
To reserve your kits, reply to this message before 01/15/09, specifiying the quantity and style. Also indicate which tools (by the numbers in above list) you can bring. Please pay the OCRA Treasurer at Monday's meeting or on January 30th.
Name & Call Sign ___________
Telephone # ______________
ROLL-UP J-Pole $10 Qty: ____
PIPE J-Pole $13 Qty: ____
Tools I Can Bring: ________________
If you have any questions, we'll review the project on this Saturday's ARES training net or e-mail me directly .
Steve, W3AHL
AEC Training
Orange County ARES