‘loth and resin to compete thisantenna, and a few more besides! After glassing the’ siress points shown in Figure 4, [used automotive primer and whice automotive enamel (ob- fained where T bought the fiberglass kit) 0 spray the entire assembly for weather protec tion and unobirusive appearance. ‘Afier the boom hus cured, dell holes for the element mounting clamps, whieh are ‘common plumbing clamps, Secure the 1/2" diameter by 5’-long aluminum tubing to the clement holders, also shown in Figure 4, spacing the ends ofthe tubing about 1” apart Notice that 1 isolated the elements further From the boom mounts by slipping clear plas tic tubing aver the ends (also obtained from im local hardware store). You might wonder why I would bother to isolate elements when umber's delight” construction predomi- nates in yagi construction, and I already had ‘wooden insulating supports. Take nothing for granted, and KISS (keep it simple, stupid) are rly motos. had analyze the antenna asa see fof free space conductors and that is what 1 wanted to build! Conneet the inside ends of the reflector with #12 wire and a pair of solder lugs setewed into the 1/2" ting, shown in Fi tre 6, Be sure to weatherize these connes- tions as wel Youcan strap the Radio Works 1:1 balun to the boom near the driven element using one ‘of two large stainless steel hoe clamps. Coa rect the unbalanced output ofthe balun to the driven element ends, again using #12 copper Wire, solder lugs, and self'tapping screws affixed othe 1/2" tubing. Be sure to weather Ine these connestions ‘Ac this point, you have assembled the an- tenna as far as ican be and stil fit ina normal garage. Subsequent assembly must be done ‘outdoors, presumably on the day you will erect it ‘Wind the loading coils on 1” woodn dow els, a total of 23 turns of #16 enameled wire spaced over 2.5 inches, for 4.2 UH of induc- ‘ance, shown in Figure5. Startby cutting aL" wooden dowel into four 6.5" lengths, and thon drilling a 3/8" hole into the ends of each dowel to a depth of two inches, Be careful center the hole and keep the drill bit straight asitenters the dowel. A drill press and vise ‘make the job easy ‘After drilling the dowels, cut cight 5"-long pieces from a section of 3/8" solid alurtinarn fod. Mix up some "two-hour" epoxy, and after roughing one end ofthe rods with sand paper, coat the rough end of each rod and insert it into the dowel until fully seated. ‘Continue until all four dowels have 3/8" alu minum mountings at either end. This tech- nique yields low profile, strong coil forms that you can easily attach to 1/2" tubing with hose clamps. used stainless serews and solder lugs, shown in Figure 5, to secure an electrical ocetion Gr the aluninan vos, Tiled ‘all pilot holes through the wooden dowels at each end, continuing until dhe hole pro _pressed into the rod. Wind the coils between the solder lugs and secure by soldering each endo its respective lug. Tohelp in producing SOLOER LUG 2! ge coar : SRLOMINUM ROD wir Ebon Barone ‘SELF-TAPPING SCREW (2) BE SURE PILOT NOLE CENTERS INPRO FO ooo execraicat, i Eonnection i ao L, Ht Taye" on Guin 53! Mow azowoon bowel Figure 5. Loading coil assembly. crsene name LORE COL Figure 6, Element assembly (mes four). \ —veraumriane / sata nae Hs CE. | ‘uniformly wound coil, Fused ‘masking te to secure the wind- ings while T manually adjusted tums spacing with a thumbnail This is very easy to do, and will only take @ few minutes forall four coils. After the spacing looked uniform, T spread four thin beads of fastcuring epoxy ddown the length of cach coil. f spaced the beads 90 degrees apart (the coils resembled B&W lunits at this point) and removed the masking tape when the epoxy ured. Teflon” heaishrink over the en Lire length of the wooden dow: cls, and then sealed the ends with urethane, Alieratively, you can spray or brush the weather-resis- tant coating of your choice over the coil assemblies, making sure to seal the lugs and serews. The result wil be loading coils that should las for a very long time. “Assemble the antenna eloments by follow ing the diagram in Figure 6. 1 used stainless steel hose clamps, but you ean screw the clement segments together, being sure «0 leave the four 3/8” end segments adjustable for tuning purposes. ‘Tuning With the antenna lifted ro the top of an 8! to 10" ladder, and using your rig at very low power (please don't cause ORM), siniply tune the driven element to resonance at the center of your primary operating frequency, ‘Adjust the reflector fora length tha is 3.5" ‘greater than the driven element on each side, ‘oF 7" longer overall. I'you use the MFI SWR ad ron Z Figure 7. Final wiring. Analyzer as I did, you can play around a bit with no fear of causing QRM. Repeat the process one more time and then recheck after ‘ising the antenna to its final height. You can see from my SWR chart that missed by ahint because of impatience. The antenna is usable ‘ver the entire band as tuned, and the high frequency side of the SWR chart does offer the highest forward gain. . (excuses, excus- ©) Antenna Mounting To install the antenna, T used a 40" four- section push-up pole, a wall-mounting brack- et, and a TV antenna rotor all obtained from Continued on page 46 73Amatour Radio Today * Apri, 1992 35