Cheep Dipole Antenna
This is a picture of my $5.00 antenna.
It consist of a bnc connector on a piece of rg 58 coax. To make the
antenna cut 25 inches of the insulation from the end of the coax and pull
the center conductor out through the braid. pull the braid tight
and cut to the same length as the center conductor. On the first
antenna I made I cut the braid to about one inch and crimped an eyelet
on the end and bolted it to the frame where the nose fairing attaches to
the frame. I used some clear packing tape and taped the center conductor
to the side of the nose cone and across the top. After it was
installed I used an antenna analyzer to check for the best swr and had
to cut to match, I have been able to talk to another plane over 120 miles
away, my radio is a sportys A 300 and puts out a 1 watt
carrier, the signal report I recieved was that the signal strength
was good but there was a bit of background noise. (wonder
where that comes from in a KOLB). With the antenna pictured
I left the braid intact and taped it across the bottom of the nose
cone thus trying to eliminate some electrical noise from a direct
connection to the cage. I have been very pleased with the results. when changing to noise canceling headsets the background noise was intolerable until I reduced the mike gain, I am very happy with the system.
I used the first antenna for the ELT. and mounted it on
the other side of the nose cone.
Boyd's home page
nose art ,
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Building the ribs ,
accessory mounting plate ,
the empennage
fuselage kit ,
Building the wing ,
permanent gap seal ,
$5.00 antenna ,
Winter flying
Southern Ut x country 2002 ,
Monument valley trip ,
Great Salt Lake