Basic Question from the New ( Old Guy)

[IRABREN]

Yes I am still here but now rolling thru garage looking for spare parts! Man - I love this hobby and even - I - ! am starting to get creative - thanks to all the wonderful help here !!!
My question:  I have a 4 ft camera tripod - and a few aluminum tubes - If I stick the tubes in the tripod and get the whole thing up about 10-12 ft - What kind of simple (I am very simple!!) inexpensive - uhf/vhf antenna - could I put up ?? I have seen the very small in height vhf/uhf antennas like High Sierra puts on their stuff - wonder - is there a name/brand for this ?

Can I use the aluminum tubes , rather than pvc for my SMALL mast. (maybe I need viagra - hi hi )


Is there any kind of HF antenna that would work on this modest( really modest !) set-up ??

Thanks to all the Answer people and God Bless all of you!
Ira, KE5STP

[WD6S]

Depending on the length of the tubes you could build a J-pole. Google "2M J-pole" and you should get plenty of hits. Most are for copper pipe but they should be adaptable to aluminum tubes.

[N3JBH]

Oh Ira I am afraid it might be too late for you my friend. You seem to be suffering from terminal ham syndrome. Best advice I could offer you considering the prognosis is to simply dig out all your new found treasures and experiment. I am sure you will come up with several neat ideas and contraptions. Best of all it is fun to play around and experiment.

To offer you any suggestions might very well be the limiting factor for you at this point. Rather it be cool for you to just start with what you have and see where the journey takes you. I feel pretty sure it will be a fun journey indeed. And I for one would love to see what you do with it all. Good luck Jeff

[IRABREN]

Thanks -also need to know if the small uhf/vhf antennas - like you see oon police cars - do they need radials for base installation - on the long piece of wood ??
Ira, KE5STP

[N1QOQ]

Wow here I though I was the only one that looked through pile of junk, looking for ham radio "stuff". And I'm only 42. The antennas on the cars use the vehicle as a ground plan. If you use a mobile antenna as a base you need to recreate that ground plane. Maybe some can offer up suggestions on the size.
73 Paul

[IRABREN]

I think the an exception would be the Arrow J pole 146/440 - I got it for $39.95 - good for vhf/uhf - But I was interested also in that small little antenna you see on the cop's cars for uhf mostly - using an Ft-60r HT, with a small mirage amp.
Ira, KE5STP

[IRABREN]

I think the an exception would be the Arrow J pole 146/440 - I got it for $39.95 - good for vhf/uhf - But I was interested also in that small little antenna you see on the cop's cars for uhf mostly - using an Ft-60r HT, with a small mirage amp.
Ira, KE5STP

[N6AJR]

google homebrew antennas

[N3JBH]

Ira those antenna's like you see on cop caps do need a ground plane yes. three or four 19 inch ones would do fine on 2 meters. you could just take a small peice a metal and make your self a  bracket that  could attach radials to and  a verical section and then simply make sets of differant size elements to match your desired bands.

When you done just wrap every thing up and put it one them cheap walmart plastic gun cases to store or transport it where ever you want to go next. it make a fine and dandy set up for sure. Jeff N3JBH

[N3JBH]

i am meant cop cars sorry not cop caps...

[W7ETA]

The basis for many home made UHF-VHF antennas is a SO239.

One time, I found a sale on a disc-cone type of scanner antenna at RS--worked FB in place of my two meter HT antenna.

Come to think of it, I never did find out if I could have used my VHF/UHF TV antenna for 2 meters?

73
Bob

[VA7CPC]

If you don't have a ARRL Radio Amateur's Handbook, or an ARRL Antenna Book, it's time to get one.   Lots of ideas there.

A "ground plane antenna" -- one vertical element, three or four "ground plane" radials pointing about 30 degrees below the horizon -- is a standard, simple, effective VHF antenna.  Each element is 1/4 wavelength, or about 19.5 inches at 146 MHz.   You can build one out of wire, or coat-hangers, or welding rod -- or even aluminum tubing!

Soldering the elements into an SO-239 (chassis) connector gives the simplest physical construction.

An alternative is a vertical dipole, which is even easier to construct.

The antennas work fine on HF as well, but you have to scale them up.  The vertical element of a ground-plane antenna becomes about 33' long for the 40m band.  If you have a tree to hang it from, and enough yard space to spread out the ground-plane wires, it'll work fine.

    Charles

[ONAIR]

   You can build a ground plane from a tripod, similar to the old "Starduster" used by CBers on 11 meters in the '60s.  The legs could be your radials.

[WA3SKN]

Ira...
You can make an antenna out of just about anything that conducts electricity!
So, all that scrap metal is usable for antennas.
The ARRL Handbook and Antenna Handbook are both good reading.  
Enjoy the hobby!
73s.

-Mike.

[KC0SHZ]

You could build the self-supporting J-pole.  You can find the directions online.  This is basically a normal twinlead J-pole that is stretched inside a PVC tube so that it can be straight without something to hang it from.

You could build a small tape measure yagi.

You could build a ground plane.

You could build a 2 meter moxon.  Get MoxGen (freeware) to calculate the dimensions for your material and build your self a little connector that will allow you to mount the antenna vertically or horizontally and you will be able to work both 2 meter FM and 2 meter SSB.