I just happen to have some old 11 meter antennas from the old days; I'll make this for my. 817 nd for two and 6 meters. Sometime you come across a gem of a project and I think this one is a fine jewel. Thanks for you time and effort
You wouldn't believe me if I said this, but I'm her grandson, my grandad and Grandma loved radio, and grandad was great with making antenna so he showed my grandma how to make them filmed it (our family loves photography so we have alot of cameras) and he posted it onto UA-cam on his UA-cam channel as he wanted her to be the face of it
Excellent instructional video, Margaret. I have made many of those over the last 50 years or so exactly the same way. These days I usually use dual wall heatshrink as it has the inner layer of glue in it. 73....Eric VK2VE.
Hi Margaret, thanks for this video, and well done! A newly-licensed friend has built one of these antennas per your instructions, and reports improved performance on his car compared to his 1/4 wave whip antenna. I remember you from Brisbane North Radio Club (BNRC) in the early-to-mid 1980s - I was licensed as VK4VLE then VK4BMD, and known at the Club as "Mike 4". 73, Mike VK2IG.
I have been looking on how to build a 5/8th wave properly, particularly the coil specs at the bottom. Great instructions here that make things very easy. Thank you. 73 VK3TVZ.
Been a Ham radio operator for 50 + yrs, learned lots of communication knowledge', all bands, all modes, simi retired now, only have 2 meter gear for local repeaters, vy 73's, de AA4FT NC
Got a bunch of old CB mobile fiberglass antennas laying around and will try you antenna out with one of them. Thanks for such a wonderful vid. KC4RAF, 73s.
My 33 years of exposure to radio and antennas has left me with the idea that placing the coil at the bottom to be not as good as putting it at least half way up the length of the antenna so that ground losses are minimized. Also going from a solid copper conductor (the coil) to the braided radiating part may not be as good as just continuing with the solid wire. Another good thing to do is to finish the top of the antenna with an adjustable tip. So instead of searching for all these parts, just get 5 feet long FireStick CB antenna, remove the wire from it and then you have the right base, fiberglass rod, and adjustable tip ready to go, just add your own coil and radiating section(s), this way you save time that you can use for experimenting.
A coil at the middle of the antenna is common to dual band antennas, where the antenna is resonant at the lower (144MHz) frequency but the higher frequency can't pass the coil because of the higher inductance, and instead the bottom part of the antenna is resonant. Such antennas often also have a coil at the bottom, compensating for the non dipole-ness of the antenna.
Thanks for the video. I built a 5/8 antenna per your design and it seems to work great. Much better than the 1/4 wave that I had been using. A fair bit bigger though :) Mine is the full 1.4 metres long, and tests good on 2M, as well as 6M, and somewhat OK on 70cm.
Hello Margaret Thankyou for the video, please publish more. As hams we should be sharing more and UA-cam a great medium to do so. I try to do that with my channel
Brilliant and it looks the part, Im new to amatuer radio and finding all these homemade antennas on line that cost next to nothing cant wait to try them all
She was great and new what she was talking about,they are right we need more girls in the hobby ,hope she has other videos to learn from ,thanks for your video.
Its better built than the crappy commercial Marine Radio antenna that I bought for two quid at a boat jumble! (the makers had used a springy phosphor bronze loading coil that was supposed to use its springiness to hold all the connections together without needing solder, FAIL! ) I would however recommend using Fluid Film Rope & Chain Lubricant (based on Lanolin) or varnish to stop the braid going green with verdigris. Of course in Australia it doesn't rain very often and there isn't the 90% humidity and salt spray that is so common here. Well done!
Ciao Mam, sono rimasto affascinato dalla tua semplice, quanto meravigliosa realizzazione!!!! Grande....! :-) Hi Mam, I'm "home-brewer" in HF antennas: I'm fascinated by how wonderful your simple realization!!!! You are great....! :-) Among other things, I observed your hands: I think "hands-lived" a lifetime. You have all my respect!! I saw the video today, August 21, 2013, for the first time.... Vy 73 de IZ2JQE - Lello
Very cool antenna project! Wish I had seen this video years ago back in 2003 when I was first getting into amateur radio as I could have made me and my friends some very cheap 5/8 mobile antennas. 73 -VA3AWP
parts list Mobile antenna base at 1:21 the author says something about the base, but I could not understand the description Fiberglass rod 1.4 meters Coax braid (probably 1.4 + meters) enameled copper wire 40 cm Heat shrink tube (1.4 meter) soLder (rosin core) soLdering iron Mobile antenna base cannot find one anywhere, checked walmart, amazon, ebay, and a dozen sites which say antenna parts ??? ----- Fiberglass rod, (grab old fishing rod & tear off the farrells) No cost. --------- 3.3ft Flat 1m Cable 6mm Copper Braid Bare Copper Braid Wire Ground Lead About $5 including shipping and tax --------- BNTECHGO 22 AWG Magnet Wire - Enameled Copper Wire - Enameled Magnet Winding Wire - 4 oz - 0.0256" Diameter 1 Spool Coil Natural Temperature Rating 155℃ Widely Used for Transformers Inductors Amazon $7 not certain about shipping and tax,, probably net around $9 --------- Heat shrink tube 2:1 Heat Shrinkable Tube Shrink Tubing Wire Dia Black Ratio 0.6mm-50mm (2 meters appx 6 feet) approx $5 including tax and shipping --------- Assume I have solder and the soldering iron Cost would be about $20, very reasonable. Problem is there does not seem to be a seller for mobile antenna base, anybody know a seller? (btw, thanks very much !!!!!)
Hi im new in the business, i have bought a cb radio, The antenna uses a coax cable to connect with the radio unit, you soldered only one conducter, what about the ground? thanks Well Done eeee
Hi, Enjoyed the video, Very informative. Do you by chance have an antenna plan or formula for this antenna for the USA 222-225 MHz band plan? Thank you for posting this video.
that 2 metere ant is for the frequency of 144 MHZ. CB is usualy 27 MHZ. possibly the best mobile whip for 27 MHZ would be a helical whip. I may make a video of that one later.
Try soldering 15 cm of braid to ant. base then 11 turns of wire then 33 cm of braid then another 11 turns of wire then 20 and a half cm of braid then another 11 turns of wire then 28 and a half cm of braid.
The antenna is made to be used with a mobile mount (either permanent or mag-mount) on the vehicle. When connected to your radio, the braid of the coax will connect to the vehicle chassis (ground) which forms the ground plane. The center of the coax will connect to the base of the antenna. I have made similar antennas using fibre glass rod with wire, coax braid or copper foil as the conductive element. I can report they work just fine! Using UV resistant heatshrink is a good idea.
How did you calculate all the lengths & diameter of the wire? If one we're to make an antenna for 11 meters, would one multiply everything by 5.5? That would make for one seriously awkward antenna!! Does anyone have any ideas or formulae? Thanks & 73, Norman.
right, this video basically shows half of the antenna. You need some kind of ground-plane. The antenna could be mounted on a mag base on a metal car or could have a set of 4 radials. But the video only shows only the top portion. Does anyone have more information on this issue ?
So I found a nice piece of fiberglass. Oops, not really so nice. The fiberglass is 5/16 inch diameter. NO way does anyone sell a ferrule nut with a 5/16" diameter. So the key is to FIRST find the ferrule base nut, then go looking for a piece of fiberglass to fit. Max-Gain Systems, Inc sells the base nuts. Biggest one is .200″ Chrome Brass Antenna Ferrule to 3/8 x 24 thread male (P/N: 9927-200). The sizes of hole possible are .100 ", .125" and .200". My 5/16 is huge.. which is .3125 inch. However if you can find fiberglass to fit the hole (.100 or .125 or .200) then Max-gain Systems has a ferrule to fit. Now that I know the possible ferrule sizes, I am looking around for a fiberglass. As per other commenters, I am going to look for either old or new fishing rods.
Great design except with its size and apparent stiffness, you better watch out for obstacles! Id love to see a similar design with much smaller diameter rod so that you could survive accidental trees and drive through's! XD
I wish all instructional videos were this good. Very informative, easy to understand and to the point. Awesome video.
Thank you!
I just happen to have some old 11 meter antennas from the old days; I'll make this for my. 817 nd for two and 6 meters. Sometime you come across a gem of a project and I think this one is a fine jewel. Thanks for you time and effort
I wish she made videos, shes amazing! The world needs more women like her.
I hold a Ham Study Group and guess what they are gonna watch this Tuesday...
Definitely agree.
You wouldn't believe me if I said this, but I'm her grandson, my grandad and Grandma loved radio, and grandad was great with making antenna so he showed my grandma how to make them filmed it (our family loves photography so we have alot of cameras) and he posted it onto UA-cam on his UA-cam channel as he wanted her to be the face of it
Excellent instructional video, Margaret. I have made many of those over the last 50 years or so exactly the same way. These days I usually use dual wall heatshrink as it has the inner layer of glue in it. 73....Eric VK2VE.
Building antennas has got to be my favorite part of amateur radio! Awesome video!!! 73
What a great instruction video
Straight to the point and simple and easy explained and shown
Hope you can make more videos like this
Hi Margaret, thanks for this video, and well done! A newly-licensed friend has built one of these antennas per your instructions, and reports improved performance on his car compared to his 1/4 wave whip antenna.
I remember you from Brisbane North Radio Club (BNRC) in the early-to-mid 1980s - I was licensed as VK4VLE then VK4BMD, and known at the Club as "Mike 4". 73, Mike VK2IG.
I have been looking on how to build a 5/8th wave properly, particularly the coil specs at the bottom. Great instructions here that make things very easy. Thank you. 73
VK3TVZ.
I made this recently not for my car but for a stealth home antenna, works very well and very impressed with the results thanks 73.
This is wonderful! You do a great job explaining this fabrication. Thank you very much for sharing!!
still watching this year 2019... my greetings from philippines
Me too hehehe DW3ZXC Subic Phil
Delighted to say it's being watched in 2020 too!
Happy New Year to all.
You are absolutely adorable and capable. A dangerous combo. :) Thank you Margaret!
I don't know how one could dislike this video :(
Thank you Milady for this great video.
Amazing... Madame... You got talent soldering.... Explaining... Better this young kids... Keep posting....thank you for share... Cheers
One of the best antenna videos I've seen, thank you!
Been a Ham radio operator for 50 + yrs, learned lots of communication knowledge', all bands, all modes, simi retired now, only have 2 meter gear for local repeaters, vy 73's, de AA4FT NC
Fantastic. Well explained, simple to build, works perfectly. Thanks, Mark VK3PDG
i made mine , using copper brain from old coax cable , its works a treat ,thanks Margette, i love you
Got a bunch of old CB mobile fiberglass antennas laying around and will try you antenna out with one of them. Thanks for such a wonderful vid. KC4RAF, 73s.
My 33 years of exposure to radio and antennas has left me with the idea that placing the coil at the bottom to be not as good as putting it at least half way up the length of the antenna so that ground losses are minimized. Also going from a solid copper conductor (the coil) to the braided radiating part may not be as good as just continuing with the solid wire. Another good thing to do is to finish the top of the antenna with an adjustable tip. So instead of searching for all these parts, just get 5 feet long FireStick CB antenna, remove the wire from it and then you have the right base, fiberglass rod, and adjustable tip ready to go, just add your own coil and radiating section(s), this way you save time that you can use for experimenting.
That's actually a pretty good idea...
Beats the hell out of my "5/8 collinear mounted to Prius" idea.
Cheers and 73.
A coil at the middle of the antenna is common to dual band antennas, where the antenna is resonant at the lower (144MHz) frequency but the higher frequency can't pass the coil because of the higher inductance, and instead the bottom part of the antenna is resonant. Such antennas often also have a coil at the bottom, compensating for the non dipole-ness of the antenna.
para mi no hay como la slim jim
She wanted to get more bandwidth i guess with the braid.
Great instructional. I'm sure many will enjoy these good performing antennas
Nice presentation, thank you from Czech Republic ;)
Thanks for the video. I built a 5/8 antenna per your design and it seems to work great.
Much better than the 1/4 wave that I had been using. A fair bit bigger though :)
Mine is the full 1.4 metres long, and tests good on 2M, as well as 6M, and somewhat OK on 70cm.
Hello Margaret
Thankyou for the video, please publish more.
As hams we should be sharing more and UA-cam a great medium to do so.
I try to do that with my channel
EXCELLENT! I love DIY; brings the meaning back to Amateur/HAM radio! This is what it is all about!!
should be a good swr for 477Mhz as well because it is a fairly wide band antenna as well.
Brilliant and it looks the part, Im new to amatuer radio and finding all these homemade antennas on line that cost next to nothing cant wait to try them all
She was great and new what she was talking about,they are right we need more girls in the hobby ,hope she has other videos to learn from ,thanks for your video.
Very good idea and easy to make, Thank you Madam from India.
i made my own base antenna from this (i added 4 radials to the bottom and a BNC connector) it was good outside for 3years before i took it down.
Great Job Margareth .. respect and salute 🙏
Well done from England 73's xx
Its better built than the crappy commercial Marine Radio antenna that I bought for two quid at a boat jumble! (the makers had used a springy phosphor bronze loading coil that was supposed to use its springiness to hold all the connections together without needing solder, FAIL! ) I would however recommend using Fluid Film Rope & Chain Lubricant (based on Lanolin) or varnish to stop the braid going green with verdigris. Of course in Australia it doesn't rain very often and there isn't the 90% humidity and salt spray that is so common here. Well done!
You are an absolute dear! Thanks miss.
Great Job Margaret. 73's from the states!
this is fantastic. I'm assuming you can just shorten or lengthen this for different bands
Excellent explanation and demonstration video! Thanks.
Nice and simple antenna .Thanks for posting mam .
Explicación sencilla y práctica, muchas gracias.
Great video! I'll have to give this a try once i get my licence.
great, easy to follow video. well done! Thank you !
This is a great video. Anyone know where you can get an "Mobile Antenna Base"? Part number and supplier would be useful. Thanks.
Thank you for this. I am just getting into ham radio so this is going to be a project for myself!!! Thank you!!!!
I definately want to try this one. Can you explain the rest; i.e. the mount, how the coax attaches, etc.? Thanks!
Ciao Mam,
sono rimasto affascinato dalla tua semplice, quanto meravigliosa realizzazione!!!! Grande....! :-)
Hi Mam,
I'm "home-brewer" in HF antennas: I'm fascinated by how wonderful your simple realization!!!! You are great....! :-)
Among other things, I observed your hands: I think "hands-lived" a lifetime. You have all my respect!!
I saw the video today, August 21, 2013, for the first time....
Vy 73 de IZ2JQE - Lello
Nice presentation, thank you from ROMANIA
My left ear absolutely LOVED this video.
Thanks for your time in doing this , I am going to do this soon . Thank you
Excelent video! Any ideas for a dipole 2.4GHz antenna to be used with a ALFA USB WIFI Adapter?
excellent video... thank you from the Uk
Very good video. I will make an antenna like this. I will just have to decide how I want to mount it to the car.
Very cool antenna project! Wish I had seen this video years ago back in 2003 when I was first getting into amateur radio as I could have made me and my friends some very cheap 5/8 mobile antennas. 73 -VA3AWP
Thanks for your video demonstration.
Nice work. :)
Congratulations to you!
Congrats for the tutorial vk4jgh, nice selection for mobile working on 2 meter band !!!....73, I´am yv2ejs, from venezuela.
parts list
Mobile antenna base
at 1:21 the author says something about the base, but I could not understand
the description
Fiberglass rod 1.4 meters
Coax braid (probably 1.4 + meters)
enameled copper wire 40 cm
Heat shrink tube (1.4 meter)
soLder (rosin core)
soLdering iron
Mobile antenna base cannot find one anywhere, checked walmart, amazon, ebay, and a dozen sites which say antenna parts ???
-----
Fiberglass rod, (grab old fishing rod & tear off the farrells)
No cost.
---------
3.3ft Flat 1m Cable 6mm Copper Braid Bare Copper Braid Wire Ground Lead
About $5 including shipping and tax
---------
BNTECHGO 22 AWG Magnet Wire - Enameled Copper Wire - Enameled Magnet Winding Wire - 4 oz - 0.0256" Diameter 1 Spool Coil Natural Temperature Rating 155℃ Widely Used for Transformers Inductors
Amazon $7 not certain about shipping and tax,, probably net around $9
---------
Heat shrink tube
2:1 Heat Shrinkable Tube Shrink Tubing Wire Dia Black Ratio 0.6mm-50mm (2 meters appx 6 feet) approx $5 including tax and shipping
---------
Assume I have solder and the soldering iron
Cost would be about $20, very reasonable.
Problem is there does not seem to be a seller for mobile antenna base, anybody know a seller?
(btw, thanks very much !!!!!)
Margaret: Great project, wonderfully explained! Wouldn't be surprised if you were a teacher sometime in the past! Don, N6CD
She was planning on becoming a piano teacher, I don't know why she gave up on that dream, if your wondering how I know I'm her grandson
Hi im new in the business, i have bought a cb radio, The antenna uses a coax cable to connect with the radio unit, you soldered only one conducter, what about the ground?
thanks
Well Done eeee
Thx VK4MH, enjoyed your video how to, question, what lengths (fiberglass rod, enameled wire etc)would I need to make 1.25m, 440 MHz?
I don’t understand why the ground plane and main element are soldered together. Which is the ground plane the coax ground or the wire at bottom?
nice antenna what about base antenna for 6mtr... any tips
Thank you and a big hello from Brighton UK. 73’s M6KII
Xx
Excellent job and great design, will have to try that one! Thanks for the excellent Video.
73 from England.
de 2E0HTS Simon
Hi, Enjoyed the video, Very informative. Do you by chance have an antenna plan or formula for this antenna for the USA 222-225 MHz band plan? Thank you for posting this video.
kg4eiq : 1.05 feet each section at 223.5 MHz for a ½ Wave Dipole.
Very useful and simple way of DIY!!!!
Thank you .
that 2 metere ant is for the frequency of 144 MHZ. CB is usualy 27 MHZ. possibly the best mobile whip for 27 MHZ would be a helical whip. I may make a video of that one later.
be nice to see some swr sweeps from 143 to 146 mhz and a polar plot!
That looks like some fine work!
Nice video. Very well explained.
How are you and Graham going Marg? Not heard Graham on 10 metres in quite some time now..
De VK5JA Jay 😎
Hi, I'm there grandson, they are doing great, the radio is buryed somewhere in the house, I'll tell him to find it
Yea, turns out he hasn't hoped on because the solar panels are messing up with the radio somehow
Try soldering 15 cm of braid to ant. base then 11 turns of wire then 33 cm of braid then another 11 turns of wire then 20 and a half cm of braid then another 11 turns of wire then 28 and a half cm of braid.
Where do you get the fiber glass rod and the base from?
Nice DIY antena..signing in from Malaysia
Why coax shielding and not coated wire all the way up?
thnx for the video i would love to no whathe dbi / gain that antenna would be rated for
please make more videos VK4MH!
enjoyed this video.
Thank you for this easy instruction video! 73's from germany
A very useful video. Thank you.
It only has one pole...where does the centre and braid of the co-ax feed attach?
The antenna is made to be used with a mobile mount (either permanent or mag-mount) on the vehicle. When connected to your radio, the braid of the coax will connect to the vehicle chassis (ground) which forms the ground plane. The center of the coax will connect to the base of the antenna. I have made similar antennas using fibre glass rod with wire, coax braid or copper foil as the conductive element. I can report they work just fine! Using UV resistant heatshrink is a good idea.
That was a lovely video.
Hi about to get my licence soon (as long as I pass my exam) might give this antenna a go, quick question what diameter is your fibreglass rod?
great video, explained in detail, thanks :)
How did you calculate all the lengths & diameter of the wire?
If one we're to make an
antenna for 11 meters, would one
multiply everything by 5.5? That
would make for one seriously
awkward antenna!! Does anyone
have any ideas or formulae?
Thanks & 73, Norman.
Lovely! I know what i will be building next weekend !
this is Ki6WTG and i was wondering if that type of attenna would work as a 5/8 groundplane attenna?
Awesome..but,,can anyone tell or do the list of the item???i am from Malaysia 🇲🇾,,don't understand that British accent...
🙏🏼 Thanks
It's an Australian accent. :)
@@mickgatz214 which is bastard British. They are Ruled by Brittan.
Congratulations from PW8RC, best regards, 73!
Also works well on 6m. SWR about 1.4;1. Cheers, VK2FP
Good idea. Using cable shielding for radiator.
Thanks dear Margeth ... I'l have fun to copy your antena. Thanks for be here! Good luck, 73 and 88's from DK6DX/EA3ANC
That was fantastic thank you for sharing that.
What was the copper wire (shown in the opening shots) used for?
Loading coil
Hold on a minute - that just shows the antenna driven element going to an antenna base. How is the co-ax feed line connected?
right, this video basically shows half of the antenna. You need some kind of ground-plane. The antenna could be mounted on a mag base on a metal car or could have a set of 4 radials. But the video only shows only the top portion.
Does anyone have more information on this issue ?
So I found a nice piece of fiberglass. Oops, not really so nice. The fiberglass is 5/16 inch diameter. NO way does anyone sell a ferrule nut with a 5/16" diameter. So the key is to FIRST find the ferrule base nut, then go looking for a piece of fiberglass to fit. Max-Gain Systems, Inc sells the base nuts. Biggest one is .200″ Chrome Brass Antenna Ferrule to 3/8 x 24 thread male (P/N: 9927-200). The sizes of hole possible are .100 ", .125" and .200".
My 5/16 is huge.. which is .3125 inch. However if you can find fiberglass to fit the hole (.100 or .125 or .200) then Max-gain Systems has a ferrule to fit.
Now that I know the possible ferrule sizes, I am looking around for a fiberglass. As per other commenters, I am going to look for either old or new fishing rods.
Very well done indeed :) 73 from USA...
тест антенна?
Great design except with its size and apparent stiffness, you better watch out for obstacles! Id love to see a similar design with much smaller diameter rod so that you could survive accidental trees and drive through's! XD
Buena idea y muy buen trabajo. 73 de LU1XDP.
Great presentation - explained well!
nice thank you for showing me how to make one
Cual es el metodo para calcular esa bobina????.., necesito calcular una,para 118 / 135 MHZ.....TKS!!!
Thanks for that you did a great job !