VHF TEST ANTENNA

This project was devised some years ago due to the need for 16 identical VHF
antennas used for a CADF (Commutated Antenna Direction Finding) system for the
2-meter band. The antennas all had to be identical and commercial "rubber duck"
antennas were never the same and gave quite a significant phase difference, even
though they were all supposed to be identical. I later used the individual antenna
design for bench test purposes, because of it's very low profile.

The antenna is made of a little bit of fibre- glass PCB about 58mm wide by 150mm
tall. You do not need any posh PCB techniques if you are making a single antenna.
Simple "Scotch-tape" can be used to mask the copper before etching.

The board is soldered vertically onto a tin plate (I used a biscuit tin) and the Co-Axial
feeder is soldered directly to the PCB. Solder a hook to the edge of the tin to stop the
cable applying stress to lift the foil from the PCB. The antenna is resonated by means
of a 22pf preset capacitor soldered directly on the PCB. No holes are required in the
PCB antenna.

If used in a phased array as I did then peak one antenna for "maximum smoke" (or
best VSWR) and then adjust each of the others in turn for the same phase of the
received signal. I may well describe the CADF system at a later date, but I am unable
to photograph the original since it did not survive the divorce!

The PCB is available for download if you really want a PCB foil pattern. If you want
to build my CADF then I suggest you use it. Scale is 1:1 and it is in BMP format.