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U.S. Army Test Operations Procedure 6-2-604 ~ Procedures for Testin...
U.S. Army Test Operations Procedure 6-2-604 ~ Procedures for Testing Antennas...
From Bob Laughlin
ByKentBritain,*
WA
5VJB
ANTtNNAS
Connecting
the
Radio
to
the
Sky
DataAntennas
PhotoA.Pringles®-canantennaandlaptop.
A
cordingtoBBCNewsOnline(see:<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
science/nature/1860241.stm>),theBritishsecurityfirmi-secsuccessful
lyhackeditswayintoseveralcomputers
throughoutLondonbycruisingaround
withalaptopandawirelessLANcard
lookingforopennetworks.Theysuppos
edlyfoundlotsofopennetworks!For
example,accordingtheBBCarticle,"In
one30-minutejourneyusingthe
Pringles®-canantenna,witnessedby
BBCNewsOnline,i-secmanagedtofind
almost60wirelessnetworks."
Ihavenotroublewithi-sec'sJames
Bondstylestoryofhackingcomputers
whileonthestreetsofLondon.Whatcon
fusesme,however,isthefirm'suseofthe
Pringles®canforanantenna(photoA)!
I'vebuiltalotofhomantennas,andthe
diameterofthePringles®canisjusttoo
smallfora2.4-GHzradiowavetofit
insideit.It'ssimplyimpossibleforthat
antennatoworkonthatfrequency!Nev
ertheless,inordertoseeifthisideareal
lyworked(orifpigscanfly),Lloyd
Ellsworth,NE8I,broughtseveral2.4
GHzhomantennasmadefromPringles®
canstotheCentralStatesVHFSociety
antennacontestinMilwaukeelastyear.
OneantennawaspertheBBCarticle
(Lloydevenusedasourcreamandonion
Pringles®cansoastobejustliketheBBC
antenna.),andontheotherantennathe
lengthandpositionoftheprobehadbeen
optimized.At2.4GHz,gainonboth
antennaswaslessthan
-20
dBi,myanten
narangenoisefloor.ThePringles®
antennainthephotowassweptwithmy
networkanalyzer,anditsimplydoesn't
workbelow3.0GHz.Evenso,suppos
edlytheseguysarepickingupsignals!
Forthetubetobecomeaproperlywork
inghomantenna,youmusthaveagood
groundconnectionbetweenthecoaxcon
nectorandthehom(figure1).Inthiscase
youneedagoodgroundconnectionto
cardboardandaluminumfoil.Ifyoudon
't
gettheconnectiontightenough,ortwist
theconnectorafteryo
u've
tightenedit,
*1626Vineyard,GrandPrairie,TX75052
e-mail:<wa5vjb@cq-vhfcom>
62.CQVHF.
Winter2003
youbreakloosethealuminumfoil.Now
youhavethissortoffatlongwireantenna
hangingoutther
e-n
otahomantenna,but
atleastitcanpickup2.4-GHzsignals.
Here'samuchbetterwaytobuilda
simple2.4-GHzhomantenna:Infigure2
andphotoBwehaveahomantennamade
fromal-poundcoffeecan(Yes,asvac
uumpacked,itmightonlybe13ounces.).
Almostany
3
1/2-
to4-inchdiametercan
willwork,about100mmifyouprefer
metric.Mounttheprobe2inchesfromthe
bottomofthecan.Drillingtheholealong
theweldedseamworksbest.Theprobe
shouldbekindoffat.IfindliS-inchdiam
eterbrassorcopperhobbytubingworks
well.EvenNo.10toNo.14copperwire
makesagoodprobe.Trimtheprobesothatwhenit'smount
ed,thetipis1.25inchesfromthenearest
sideofthecan.SMA,5MB,BNC,andN
connectorsworkjustfine.A
S0238
at2.4GHz?Well,if
you'r
ethatdesperate,butdon
't
expectittotalkveryfar.
Thegainisanhonestandrepeatable6.5
to6.8dBi.Irecentlysawanevensmall
erhomadvertisedashaving15dBgain.
CanIinterestyouinareal-estateinvest
ment?Bytheway,thiscoffeecanalso
makesagreatAMSATS-Banddishfeed.
Figure
1.
Pringles®-canground
connection.
915-MHz"CheapYagi"
Theveryfirst"CheapYagi"wasdevel
opedfor902
-928
MHzspread-spectrum
service.Togetaveryflatresponseacross
thewholeband,theseantennashaveabet
terimpedancematch(SWR)atthelow
endoftheband,andabitmoregainatthe
highend.Thisaveragestoaconsistent
signalsquirteracrossthewholeband.
Manyofthe915-MHzsystemsare
designedfor75-ohmantennasystems,and
somearedesignedfor50-ohmservice;so
we'lldoacoupleofeach(photo
C).
Allthedesignsusethesamedrivenele
mentasshowninfigure3andphotoD.
VisitOurWebSite
PhotoB.Coffee-canantenna.
1IbCoffeeCan2.3GHz
Photo
C.
9I5-MHzCheapYagis:(left)50-ohmand(right)75-ohm.
..
I
.5"
Coax
.''.
.'
.
6.0"
.......
Tie-Wraps
..
.
....
DrivenElementDetail
(NottoScale)
Figure
3.
9I5-MH
zdriven-elementdetails.
PhotoD.Close-upofthe9I5-MHzdrivenelement.
-
anbe
Trimm
edforB
estS
WR1.25"MaxSignal
2.0"
Figure
2.
Usingaco
ff
eecanasa
feedhorn.
Thewidth
of
theloopisnotcritical,but
don'tgettoofarfromthesedimensions.
Thecoaxissimplysoldereddirectlyto
thedrivenelement.
The
shieldgoestothecenter
of
thelonge
lemen
t;the
coa
xcenter
conductor
goestothe
bottom
tip
of
the
"J."
If
youhavethetestequi
pmen
t,thefreetipofthedrivenelementcanbetrimmed
forbest
SWR
.
If
you
just
buildtheanten
nastothedimensions,the
SWR
istypi
callyabout1.5to1.OnceIgotcarried
awayonthenetworkanalyzerandtook
onedownto1.02to1.Notthatyouwould
beabletotellanyperformancedifference
between1.5and1.02,butyouknowhow
youcangetcarriedawaywiththesethings.
Bycontrollingthespacingsandload
ingeffectsoftheotherantennaelements,
wecandesigntheantennafor50-or75
ohmservice.Aswehavecoveredinpre
viouscol
umn
s,thestructureoftheanten
naisitsownimpedancematch.Notice
thatthe75-ohmversionisslightlylonger,
anditalsohasslightlymoregain.
Themax
imum
possiblegain
of
aYagiisdeterminedbyitslength.
How
many
elementsyouuse,andthespacing
of
thoseelements,optimizetheantenna,but
www.cq-vhf.com
Winter2003•
COVHF
•
63
IG-706MKIIG
HF
+
6M
+
2M
+
70emAll
Mode
D8D8
5.024.0
D7
5.321.0D65.318.0DS5.415.0D4D4DSD6D75.012.0
5.2
11.55;35:35.35.3
11.5
15.018.021.1
5.412.0D3
5.59.05.59.0
rod,1/8-inchcopperhobbytubing,
1/8
inchbrassh
obb
ytubing,No.12copper
wire,RadioShackaluminumground-rod
wire,andevenplastictubesfilledwith
saltwater
...
but
thatwillbeastoryfor_
anothertime.Table1givesthedimen
sions
of
theantennas.Onthe75
-ohm
versionthedrivenelementismadefromsil
iconbronzeweldingrod.It'sgreatstuff,
butyoualmosthaveto
have
atubingben
der
toworkwithit.
The
50-ohm
ver
sionismadefromNo.12solid-copperwire.
Copperandbronzearemucheasierfor
solderingthecoax.Last,Ihavesomecompetitioninthe
cheapantennadepartment.Iwasinvited
tobringandsetupmyantennarangeat
theAMS
AT-
NA
confe
renceinFt.Worth,TexaslastNovember,measuring
19antennas.
Ton
y
Mont
eiro,
AA2T
X,
D25.66.05.66.05.26.0D1D2D3D15.75.65.5
3.55.08.25
5.75.65.5
3.55.08.25
5.73.45.73.45.73.45.75.03.55.25
************
2.42.42.42.42.42.4
DEDE
915-MHzA.ntennaMeasurements
R
6.3
o
6.3
o
6.3
o
75ohm
4element
LengthSpacing
Gain:8.5dBi
FIB
20dB
6element
LengthSpacingGain:11dBi
FIB:
20dB
10element
LengthSpacingGain:
13.2
dBi
FIB:
20dB
SO
ohmR
4element
Length6.3
Spacing
0
Gain:8.2dBi
FIB:
25dB
6element
Length6.3Spacing0Gain:11dBi
FIB:
22dB
10element
Length6.3
Spacing0Gain:
13.5
dBi
FIB:
25dB
thebestyoucandoisalreadydetermined
bythelengthof
your
boom
.
For
youguyswholiketo
play
with
NEC
or
Larson
models,tryit!Makea7-or8-element
Yagiona
boom
onwhichyouusually
would
put
anlI-elementYagi.
The
driven-elementimpedancewillbehighand
thebandwidthwillbelow,but
you'll
get
ju
stasmuchgain!.
Theboomneedstobenon-conductive.
Iusuallyuse
1/
2"
X
3
/4"
or
3/4"-square
wood.Forweatherproofing,paint,clear
spraypaint,sparvarnish,orevenoneof
thewater-sealproductscanbeused.The
elementsareheldinplacewithSuper
Glue,siliconglue,orevenoneofthecon
structionadhesives.
I'm
notafanofusingPVCtubingfortheboom,butitwillwork.
Theelementsare1/8-inchdiameter
metal.
I'v
eusedsiliconbronzewelding
**Thesamedrivenelementasshowninfigure
3
is
usedforallsixantennas.Alldimensions
areininches.
R
-
ReflectorDE'-Drivenelement
D#
-
Directoranditsnumber
FIB
-
Front-to-bockratiofortheantenna
Table
1.
Measurementsfor915-MHzantennas.
FT-857
HF/6M/2M/440MHzAll
Mode
TS-2000
HF/6M/2M/440MHzAll
Mode
TH-F6A
2M/220/440MHz.1·1300MHz*
All
Mode
RX
VX-7R
50/144/430
MHz220MHz-300mW
.5-999*MHzRX
T-90A
6M/2M/440MHz.495-999*MHzRX
8012
ConserOverland
Park,KS66204M-F9-5:30Sat9-1pm
WEAREA
FULL
LINEDEALER.Astron,Bencher,Comet,Samlex,
Pryme,AlphaDelta,Maldol,W5YI,
Cushcraft,Daiwa,Diamond,Heil,MFJ,
Hustler,Larsen,LMRCable,Hamstick,
ARRL,Kantronics,Maha,GAP,SGC,
Van
Gorden,Ameritron,MaxRad,Mirage
Letusbe
your
newand
used
Amateurradiodealer.
Weservicemostbrands.WarrantyserviceforKenwood,Icom,
andYaesu.
64.CQVHF
•
Winter
2003
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