Antenna aid

With thanks to Terry for his donation of the antenna, I am now aided and equipped when sending and receiving signals over the radio by boosting her transciever.


This is a ground-plane design with 4 copper legs and a point at the top connected together at the centre with a small square (corners bent) of aluminium. On the underneath is a female N type connection to attach a lead to the rig (radio).


Terry also helped me to put together my first lead.


This is combined of 'plenty' of Rg58, also known as coaxial cable (enough to run down a supporting tube and into car/house/boat to rig). The following image presents an exposed piece of coax (RG59 in this case which looks the same but has different properties such as impedence.) A - outer plastic insulation, B - braided copper, C - inner dielectric insulation, D - copper core.


A quick search on wikipedia provides great details about coax.

Also needed for the lead includes a male N-type connector to attach the lead to the ground-plane...


and a 50 Ohms BNC plug (one that you have to identify in the Foundation license exam). Apparently the only way to tell the difference in Ohms is by the thickness of the centre pin of the plug, but this takes a highly skillful eye to identify and not necessary in the exam (in my case just ask the stall holder).


And finally, as the Yaseu has a particular connection for the antenna, I purchased an S.... (will have to look this up as the name escapes the mind).


In brief, to make this lead the coax cable is stripped to the braiding on both ends, the plugs unscrewed and certain bolts threaded on. The brading is unravelled and then trimmed to the bolt edge. Measuring the centre pin in the housing helps to identify how much of the inner insulation to trim thus exposing the core. This core is then pushed inside the pin and soldered. Screw on the housing to the bolts. Do the same for the other end of the cable using the suitable plug. Test that there is no continuity between the centre pins and the housing one strand of the braid could do this, so check before fixing all together, and Bob's your Uncle.

Now the next thing is to take a tube which is used as a support


and from one end of the tube cut down about an inch in a cross formation.


Then using a Jubilee clip...


tighten the tube around the N type underneath the ground plane allowing the cut strips to overlap. This should provide a sturdy pole to fix upright. I am yet to find the best place to fix this new antenna.