DIY Vertical

Recipe for a great portable antenna 6m to 80m

Ingredients

  • 2x 3/8" 24 nuts, bolts, washers, and one coupler

  • 1-1/4" Schedule 40 PVC pipe

  • 2x Caps for the ends

  • 1x 2" coupler

  • 50' (15m) 16 GA (1.4mm) Galvanized wire

  • 50' (15m) 16 GA (1.4mm) Weed trimmer line

  • 17ft (5m) whip or cable for the vertical radiating element

  • 3/8" stud to SO-239 mirror mounting bracket

  • Any tripod

  • Lots of any wire for the ground radials

Preparation

  1. Make two small holes on the pipe, close together, run the wire and the trimmer line through and attach to a washer on the inside of the pipe

  2. Coil both the wire and the trimmer line in parallel until consume the length of the wire

  3. Tape the end firmly and make 4 small holes to lock the wire and trimmer line in place

  4. Attach to top wire of the coil to the top bolt

  5. Make a slider ring with the 2" coupler

  6. Attach a piece of wire from the bottom bolt to the slider ring

  7. Take it outside and try it!

Coiling the 16 GA x 50' (15m) galvanized wire and the weed trimmer line (same diameter)

Completed loading coil

Attaching the slider ring cable to the bottom feed point

Slider ring build details

10 lb dumbbell for stabilization

Mirror mount 3/8 24 stud to SO239 connector

Starting deployment on the field

4 bundles of 6 ground radials each 33' (11 m) spread evenly in 360 degrees

Detail of the top coupling bolt (3/8 24)

MFJ1979 Telescopic Whip 213" (5m)

Wolf River Coils equivalent telescopic whip

Deployment completed in 20 minutes or less

Park VE-1368 activations - North Maple Regional Park

55 QSOs ranging from Vancouver and California to Spain. Including few park to park QSOs.

32 QSOs on 2nd activation weekend, testing the antenna in 17m, 15m, and 20m. Three DX QSOs with Germany, Spain (park to park), and Western Sahara.

Park VE-5314 activation - Tottenham Conservation Area

50 QSOs ranging from California to Italy. Including 6 park to park QSOs.
Activated the park using a triple mag mount without the ground radials.
It worked great in 40m but there was lots of RF common mode interference on the bands 20m, 15m, etc.

On the roof with an ugly choke

Ugly choke and grounding braid

Beautiful view from my operating position

Ground point on the frame. One braid for the mag mount and the other braid is for the radio.