Vhfuhf quad antenna the information in this article has come from many amateur sources, the most notable was from wa6tey sk 1985 ray frost, who was a pioneer of vhf quad designs and one of the best southern california transmitter hunters of the 1980s. Please see above a diagram for a 4 element quad provided by dx adventure radio club darc member and antenna expert 19da109 marcel in the netherlands. This antenna meets the demands set by aresraces group for ruggedness, easy deployment, and performance. A fiveelement quad antenna for 2 meters by jim reynante, kd6glfpo box 27856san diego, ca 92198. Qtenna boomless quad hubs and quad hardware boomless quad hubs and quad hardware by steve narducci, w9sn. This design for a swiss quad antenna appeared in the september 1967 edition of qst magazine. The main category is antennas for 2 meters band that is about antenna projects for 144 mhz. The name quagi is a simple contraction of quad yagi. Uhf yagi is based on dl6uw yagi antennas designformula. First off a cubical quad antenna on 10 meters is a manageable size, its actually smaller height wise and lighter then a yagi antenna. In a quagi the first two elements of the antenna are quads, the directors are all simple straight wire elements, as in the traditional udayagi design. It uses a single coax line to a homebrew antenna switch. Loops a e have sides approximately wavelength but overall circumference delta loop is the same as an equivalent quad on the same frequency, i. The reader is again referred to the book on quad antennas or the antenna hand.
This antenna is similar in construction to the 2meter ofc sleeve dipole i built over 8 years ago, but it is a simple centerfed dipole. About 8 elements quad for 2 meters the resource is currently listed in in 2 categories. I gave the boom a nice black paint job, and back up on the roof it sits. Here is a story of one hams experience in determining how the performance of his yagi antenna compared to his identically configured number of elements, height off of the ground, etc. Some of these clamps can be used to mount the directors. This 2 meter 3 element cubical quad antenna is small, lightweight and portable.
Many antennas are based on halfwave dipoles fabricated from wire or tubing. I decided it was time to design, build and test my own beam antenna. Build and weight dependant on your location and height the antenna will be installed. The fact that the quad antenna is effectively a pair of stacked dipoles, it offers a lower. Vhf and uhf antenna systems 1821 fig23these drawings illustrate the dimensions for the 144mhz groundplane antenna. If we look at antenna books and articles about quad antennas, we will often find references to quad antennas having 2 db gain over a comparable boom length yagi antenna. Contact us on email or call with your requirements.
Here we have collected some links to building instructions for 11m antennas on the internet. One of its touted strong points is not needing spreaders or a boom. I started with an already modeled 15 meter 2 element quad, and rescaled it to 146mhz. Since a loop radiates broadside, concentric elements are not in each others way. Lowell, n1lo, 41698 ok, this is the plan you have been waiting for. It has about 9 dbi gain, a 60 degree beam width with a clean pattern, and fb ratio 25 db. Cubical quads are popular antennas for vhf and uhf radio direction finding rdf in many places around the. Dont know the exact specs because i bought it used but im guessing it is at least 95,000 yield because it was holding up a 40 3 boom 7 element 7 band quad plus the 2m antenna for 7 years in west dallas where i bought it. Choose from a wide range of antenna types, including singleband, dualband, multiband, vertical, trap vertical, wire, yagi, vhfuhf and hfvhf mobile, and more. However i highly recommend to follow my instructions, which are based on computer antenna simulation software 4nec2. The key to making the entire system possible is the hdmi quad processor. Several of you have asked for a plan of the 4 element quad that several of us have built. This 50ohm impedance antenna, when fed with 25100w of ssb rf at 435mhz, makes reaching amateur satellites such as ao40 and ao10 a snap.
His location was a farm field in tennessee, back in the mid 1960s, so there was really not much in the way of obstacles to perturb. I love quad antennas, i have a couple of home made ones for 6m portable work. Direct feed and tuning the antenna to resonant frequency gives the most optimal performance. If you are limited in space a 2 elements quad could be what you were looking for. It requires no radials, is totally weather protected, and only 5. The vhf dipole antenna at vhf and uhf, most antenna systems are derived from the dipole or its complement, the slot antenna. Hence here is the double biquad antenna and biquad antenna calculators for handmade antenna based on average data. This weapon is for use on the 2 meter amateur band, comprising frequencies stretching from 144. It features extremely high forward gain, a clean radiation pattern and an excellent fronttoback ratio. They are especially designed for amateur radio, with the following characteristics. The antenna is basically a quad, 1 full wavelength at 2 meters. An 8l or larger 2m quad is a very unusual item since after the reflector and the driven element, the other loops directors dont provide any advantage over linear straight directors, and linear directors are a lot less work to build. A backpack antenna that is easy to put together in just minutes and parts store inside the boom making it ready for travel or storage. The x quad is an improved design of the well known multi element quads.
The swiss quad antenna at zs6pp, september 1967 qst rf cafe. Part of a wavelength on top and part on the bottom in the form of two loops connected together. Click to enlarge 144mhz 2m portable yagi vhf beam antenna by moukd. Invest an afternoons work and pack this novel directional gain antenna. A simple 4 element 2 meter yagi made from coathangers or. This horizontal slot antenna, cut into the reflector of a tv dish, is both the master of disguise and high in performance. The goal here is to put up a cheap, easy, and quick 2meter antenna that is simple and unobtrusive, but works quite well. The kit contains all the precut and predrilled parts required to build a biquad antenna. A quad has a smaller turning radius that a yagi it has a lower noise level and a slight higher gain. Ham radio antenna wifi antenna radio amateur dipole antenna outdoor antenna 3d cnc radios survival skills qrp there are times when you may need more gain than the standard jpole antenna. The cubical quad beam antenna offers about 2 db over a yagi of a similar length.
All credits and titles must remain a part of the original file or document. When leaving california i gave all my antennas to wb6adc sk 2001 clark harris, another great so calf transmitter hunter. This means that the quad compares to a pair of stacked yagis as there is always some loss in the feed arrangements for stacking the two antennas. The feed point is in the vertical plane of the antenna between the loops so its basic polarization would be vertical. Design and construction of a national contest journal.
No matter what type of antenna or antenna system you need, youll find it at dx engineering. I have used 5element 2 meter quad, a pair of 220 quads, and a pair of 2 meter quads on my california station for 10 years. According to bob heil in his book, heil ham radio handbook, there were articles in qst and cq magazine showing how to. In 1947, cubical quads began gaining popularity with amateur radio operators. The cubical quad antenna lends itself to use at vhf and uhf, and a 2 metre quad or two meter quad is easy to make using a few items that are easy to obtain or may even be available anyway. The xquad is an improved design of the well known multi element quads. Using a spider quad, such as the gem quad, is one way to ad. Antenna projects for 144 mhz category is a curation of 148 web resources on, simple vhf antenna, dish antenna for 2 meters band, 2m big wheel antenna. Only reprintingcoping of this document by nonprofit organizations is permitted. Matching is excellent on all three bands and can be tuned independently.
The antenna s low cost is made possible by modifying a radioshack fm broadcast receiving antenna rs 152163. The uniqueness of the tey quad design is in have no capacitance or inductive matching networks that cut down on the efficiency of the quad. It is aimed at the novice antenna builder, hopefully you will find it useful in one way or another. Bcara 2m cubical quad antenna construction this antenna was designed with standard cubical quad formulas for 145 mhz to calculate the lengths of the wire elements but the antenna came out instead resonate closer to 146 mhz. The next highest gain antenna was an oliver swan later to become klm bandpass log periodic type yagi of dbs with a boom better than twice as long. This same antenna design won the antenna gain measurement contest in the category of highest gain for the shortest boom length. Home uncategorized elk antennas 2m440l5 dualband antenna. An easy dualband vhfuhf antenna 658,950 bytes, pdf file qst. They can be made using various materials and in varous sizes. The biggest compromise with a 2element quad is in terms of boom length element spacing.
Permit number request to display document include file title. G0ksc simple to build, high performance yagi and quad. I think he also has step by step vids on satellite antennas, a 2m quad and a 6m2m70cm yagi. The characteristic impedance of a loop depends on its shape. A fiveelement quad antenna for 2 meters by jim reynante, kd6glfpo box 27856san diego, ca 92198 if your station is located on the fringe of the repeaters coverage area, youve come to the right place. The idea for this 2 meter full wave loop antenna came from qst. A tri band antenna for 2 meters, 220 mhz, and 70cm antenna. G0ksc simple to build, high performance yagi and quad antennas. Commscope offers a broad portfolio of antenna products, including base station, inbuilding and microwave antennas. Radiowavz manufacturers of many wire antennas, including hex antennas that cover 40 meters. Pg1ns ham radio site 70cm projects directional antennas. A light and sturdy quad for 10 and 15 meters 1,555,418 bytes, pdf file qst july 1991, pp.
In my page you will find several details of manufacture, additional. Use of information contained in each file is at your own risk. Heres what we did and how you can build a twoelement, lightweight 10 and 15meter quad using parts availa ble at local hardware and radioparts stores and a sportinggoods mailorder supplier. Antennas for ham tv, jim andrews, kh6htv video application note, an4, sept. We want enough forward gain to hit the local repeater. I am not an antenna design guy, so i cant comment on its usefulness. I have changed polarity to horizontal, and use this antenna in all major vhf contests. With a boom of just 2m and fb in excess of 20db including fullband coverage, this is a supercompact field day antenna. This is probably the most simple and inexpensive antenna you could make for 23cm.
And almost everyone on 10 meters uses vertical polarization. The cubic quad is a very popular way to get reasonably high gain and excellent front to back ratios as well as low angles of radiation for without going to extreme heights. Audio files parts i can supply current projects links. If you are wondering what amateur radio is about, its basically a two way radio service where licensed operators throughout the world experiment and communicate with each other on frequencies reserved for license holders. The antenna offers a gain of about 10 db, is lightweight, mechanically strong and rivals the performance of similar commercial antennas. The magic wand antenna a novel 2 meter full wave quad loop by wb5ism jerry randall sk march 12, 2011 see update below dont laugh about this antenna. Summer contests are a great reason to get away from it all and enjoy the pleasures of amateur radio. The gamma match on the 2m quad can be avoided by careful work in eznec, if the dimensions can be tweaked to obtain a feed impedance around 50 ohms it just needs a choke balun on the feeder or if its near 100 ohms a.
We want enough beam width so aiming is not critical. Dxantenna project in the summer of 1987, we soon discovered the real challenge. Fig 1construction diagram for the 2meter beam antenna. Pictures on the left can be zoomed by clicking on them. There are some horizontal characteristics common to all quad type. Three element quad antennas typically have about 2 db more gain than a comparable size. Quads, and a pair of 2 meter quads on my california station for 10 years. My lightning 6 quad antenna page 3 worldwidedx radio forum. This link is listed in our web site directory since thursday nov 25 2010, and till today 8 elements quad for 2 meters has been followed for a total of 2163 times. Figure 4 is the block diagram of the major components. Sep 23, 2009 first 10 out of the tower is where the 20m and 2m antennas are mounted.
A fiveelement quad antenna for 2 meters by jim reynante. An original project by i0qm of a 7 element yagi anetnna in a pdf file. Ok well start with a specification of my present quad 2 element. If your station is located on the fringe of the repeater s coverage area, youve come to the right place. I got the boom from a large uhf tv antenna that was 70 long. The dimensions shown in figure 2 produce a radiation pattern with low sidelobes and. Ei7ba multiband cubical quad antenna, ve3sqb ham radio. It should be remembered when considering its use that the quad, when fed at the bottom gives horizontal polarisation. Elk antennas 2m440l5 dualband antenna elk antennas. A quad antenna is typically a single wire formed into a square.
Eli kovo, 4x4lh originally published in the iarc newsletter 082015 hagal and used with permission of the author. The boom utilized is a square 114 white vinyl railing balusters made by fiberon pn 44551 and found at lowes. Pg1ns ham radio site 2m projects directional antennas. A cubical quad antenna is a four sided, square version of a folded dipole. This gave me a guess at how many elements i could fit on the boom that i had. Contents introduction to the fourth edition ix 1 introduction to radio broadcasting and communications 1 2 radiowave propagation 5 3 transmission lines 59 4 the smith chart 95 5 fundamentals of radio antennas 123 6 highfrequency dipole and other doublet antennas 141 7 vertically polarized hf antennas 173 8 multiband and tunablewire antennas 203 9 longwire. I like to combine the vhf and field day events with camping so my antennas need to be portable. Buxcomm, agents, or employees, are not responsible for errors or ommissions. The feed point is usually placed at the centre of the dipole, for although this is not absolutely necessary, it can help prevent. A fiveelement quad antenna for 2 meters by jim reynante, kd6glfpo box 27856san diego, ca 92198 if your station is located on the fringe of the repeaters coverage area. We have quads available from 2 elements to 7 elements on the 6m band. The phasing stubs visible below the boom can be discarded.
From my homing in column in the february 1997 issue of 73 amateur radio magazine. Build an optimum spaced 2 meter quad backwood realm. Biquad and double biquad antennas, as well as diy kits for building your own antennas are also available from biquad supply. Figure 2drill out the rivets to remove the tvantenna pieces. Groundplane antennas for 144, 222 and 440mhz for the fm operator living in the primary coverage area of a repeate r, the ease of construction and low cost of a 14. Earl, va6tj i recently came across an article in an issue of 73 magazine from 1978 raving about an antenna called the german quad which at that time was used by about half the hams in germany. The statement often made is a single quad element has 2 db gain over a dipole, and that 2 db gain difference carries over into arrays of quad elements. Cubical quad antenna calculator in java script let you calculate elements size and spacing in inch and meters. With twice the gain of a standard jpole antenna, the 2 meter slim jim antenna is a jpole on steroids.
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