My first attempt at Homemade 5/8 wave

[HomerBB]

LOOKS great to me.

Did you know you can build a home made beam also, measurements are easy with antenna calculator, and you can mount it on a cut piece of 2x4 or similiar mounting, run your coax to the center, wind around 5 turns of coax for your match....
I built one for 15 meters and worked the pacific.
Go to homemade 10 meter yagis for easy plans just use the antenna calculator for the measurements...

DOCTOR/CBRT 908

ANTENNA CALCULATOR

http://bfn.org/~bn589/antenna.html

Thanks for the link.
I've started one already. Look here:
http://www.cbradiotalk.com/vi ... =5&t=26888

[HomerBB]

It seems when there's a little skip I am away from the shack. Worked all day until the limited DX was slipping away.

Managed to make a contact with 101 Al in Southwest Florida, a brief acknowledgment from a Jamaican station, and a failed effort to communicate with a Mexican amigo. No comprende'. Ya know the drill.

A little local AM and SSB out to about forty miles north over the Ozarks into Southwestern Missouri, and a little conversation to the south and southwest of me. Both gave clear audio, and signal reports.

I was mostly ineffective trying to rope a little intermittent skip all over the frequencies. Just poor conditions by the time I got home.

[Grass-hopper]

I am getting inspired! I actually stumbled onto this site searching for plans to build my own antenna. I, too, was away from the Cb hobby for awhile. 14 yrs to be exact... I reciently blew the dust off my old moble equipment and put it back in the truck. Now I want to set up the TRC-57 I've had for 15 years and never used!Hopefully I am as successfull as you have been. Great job! 73

[HomerBB]

Well, just have fun. I have.

[209 first class]

nice job ! you asked for feedback, here is some. i was suprised you could not tune it at he 5/8 length. (i have 258 1/16" from my calculations , or 21 ft 6 and 1/16 "). i will guess you are tuning it by moving the alligator clip? i will also guess u are using the shunt feed method, where the hot from the coax goes to the alligator clip, and the ground goes to the bottom of the coil and the top of the coil is connected to the bottom of the vertical element? also what is on the coil? black paint/tape? i have a few suggestions. all the points of contact need to be soldered ( excluding the alligator clip). i can see the ground radials connected by a nut and bolt, not sure about the rest). there is too much ground before the coil. looks like 6 or 8 inches.that might be messing up the swr. the pl 259 should really be at the bottom of the coil, and the bottom of the coil soldered through one of the 4 holes. there is also too much how wire too, needs to be short. i would use solid wire and make a coil that stands off from the mast with at least a 1/2 inch of space between the coil and the mast.(picture a 10k antenna coil in your mind) the copper is strong enuf to support itself and the alligator clip if you use 14 gauge. air is the best dielectric/insulator for coils. having your coil hugging the mast is making it loose some efficiency. im sure it works well like it is, if you get bored those are some things to try. 2zero9

[HomerBB]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have had some fun with it, but it is currently on the ground with my 2 el quad up insted. So, as the weather becomes less conducive to outside activities I may get to tinker around some more.

[443 Arizona]

homer, i think my 5/8 is shorter than that and it works good, its an older hy-gain but it has a few coils at the base,,, have to find some specs on it,, and i had to replace the groundplane radials ,, so i used 9 footers on them, (if i remember),, but that antenna is the second one i've had ,, and i love it.

[HomerBB]

There's a lot of fun to playing around with these antennas. In fact, I've had this one up again, and down again playing with others.
I've a 3 element Yagi up now, and another 5/8 up that I'm trying to utilize some of the suggestions in the previous post on. It's a prototype.
Just to see if it would work on this one I've done 8 radials at half the length of the 4 nine footers on the one this thread discusses. It seems to work very well. I've also moved the coil from around the antenna form to setting on the side of it so it is air-cored. My lowest SWR so far is 1:2.1 so I think I will bring it down and adjust the length slightly.

Keep experimenting and you'll get hooked on it.

['Doc]

I think that first sentence says is, "There's a lot of fun to playing around with these antennas.". If that part doesn't appeal to you then about the only reason I can see to doing it is so that you can say that you did? Or maybe you just can't/won't afford what's considered 'best'.
I haven't seen anything that couldn't be improved considering where/how that 'thing' is used. That's pretty normal (and called 'tuning'). Over a whole lot of years and who knows how many antennas, I've run across maybe one or two that didn't benefit from some of that 'tuning' thingy. Didn't believe it when it happened, and had to 'prove' it to myself before I did believe it! Which can be a real PITA if you don't remember how the thing was to start with (so you/I could put it back). Mark those on the wall, cuz they are rare!
- 'Doc

[HomerBB]

I have this problem with a nagging thought ". . . it might could be just a little bit better . . .". I think it might be the devil

[nutcracker]

I have this problem with a nagging thought ". . . it might could be just a little bit better . . .". I think it might be the devil

Always get the best of ya dont it? I know with homebrew I always had to take it down to make it "a little better". But found once I took the capacitance hat off my 5/8 it performed worse. Thought it would be better due to longer in length. But that cap hat really worked well on my 5/8. I would suggest trying it, not sure what it was, maybe the signal coming off at a higher height on the radiator instead of the bottom? Now with a vertical beam there is no better to me, its right where I want it. I may make another 5/8 just because of how well it worked for local, though.

[HomerBB]

I have this problem with a nagging thought ". . . it might could be just a little bit better . . .". I think it might be the devil

But that cap hat really worked well on my 5/8. I would suggest trying it, not sure what it was . . .

There you go - temptation at it again. . . but maybe i should try it . . .