Figure 2. a) Acinuah plot ofthe yagi using the ELNEC program. b) The elevation pls. believe me, this antenna ‘ohm coax! a good match to 82 3.Q Wandwidth) An electrically-shortened antenna also exhibits higher Q than its full- Sized counterpart and this means less usable bandwidth. 1 wanted optimum performance primarily wuthin the trequeney range of 14,8010 14.225 MHL (where Tear much of the DX I'm interested in). I received an unex pected bonus when I modeled the antenna, and then constructed and tested it. Analysis showed a far better bandwidth than I had sought, and the finished antenna produced a full 350 kHz bandwidth with low SWR when rewsured at the transmitter end ofthe feed- line Subsequent remodeling and investigation swggent that the additional bandwidth rvulte because of two reasons: Loading coil Q is lower than originally modeled (ortuitous be cause of the “low-profile low-wind-load” form factor I had chosen): and attenuation teksts in the 50 feet of RG-8 coax needed to Dring the antenna into the shack. You'll ind ‘thatthe atenvation of a random fun of coax will yield lower SWR measurements at the ‘ransmittr than that measured directly atthe antenna, and this serves to “pull down the fend. points"” of the SWR curve, Figure 1 Shows the broadband nature of this reduced Tine cous lasses are suficintly low as to he negligible for two reasons: The losses occur only at the edges of the frequency band of imerest; and a tuner oF matching newwork at 32 73AmateurRadio Today * Api, 1992 the antenna also would in traduce losses, and they ‘wowld not be confined (0 band edges 4, Pattern We'd all like to offer a Laser beam” tothe ‘world when we transmit br Fst for reason frontto-back and frontt- sie ratios with this antenna because of the constraints placed upon it. The front {aback ratio varies from 12 (to 184B, or2103 S-unitsin both calculated and on-the- airtests, Wit the Pacificto ‘my back when beaming Eu- rope or Africa, and the At- lantic at the Tank when bearing tne South Facinc and points west, it has proven tobe a good choice For sations at & reasonable Gistance, a istinet “null appears off the sides ofthe antenna, probably due to the horizontally polarized signals predominating. (See Figure 2.) Fl admit that 1 placed pattern after gain when optimizing this Yagi, but Ihave no difficul- iy determining when I point ata station (or its propags tion path). This is very un- like a commercial "mini" had occasion to operate from at Iriend's shack a few years ago, where it seemed we were turning a vertical! This antenna does have a usable patern Ss Completed Design Personal design con straint called for a total oF 20" clement length, a spac ing not to exceed 8 (two elements), and maximum height above ground of 33 The total antenna wind ioad and weight allow theuse of an unobtrusive guyed push-up pole The antenns that resulted from few months of modaling on the computer has the follow ing measured characteristics: clement length = 20"; boom length = 6"; forward gain = 9.4 dBi; F/S, F/B = > 12 dB; and full band coverage with less than 1.7:1 VSWR. Compared to is isotropic counterpart and using 1,200 watts input, this anteana pro Vides an average of 12,000 watts ERP in the direction itis pointed. Afer examining the performance of many commonly used *an- tennas"* on my computer, this, I can assure you, isa very strong signal Construction Since the antenna was to be as unobtrusive as possible, [chose @ wood and aluminum ‘design for maximum structural strength com ‘mensurate with small size. [used a wooden Figure 4. Glassing and final boom assembly boom (common fir) and reinforced it with ‘ibergass cloth and resin, This allows a good degree of flexibility, strength, and light ‘weight for pole" mounting, Teonstracied the elements from 1/2" and 3/8" aluminum twbing, available at many hhardware stores in 6 lengths. These diame: ters are very small as common yagi elements g0 and have survived severe Florida winds ‘without problem, Thisis probably because of the clasticity oF “springiness™ ofthe wooden bboom elements. You cannot appreciate the small “willowy" nature ofthis antenna until you construct it. ‘Construction begins with the boom itself, shown in Figure 3. tis not wholly necessary to glass the joins, but you assure long-term reliability if you do, Kits for glassing are Available from your local department stores (uch as K-Mart or automotive shops. These inexpensive kits contain enough Tiberglass