I decided to go with a quarter wave vertical as the antenna.\u00a0 1\/4 wave, on 40 – 10 meters. I choose to make this completely out of ethernet cable. Yes, ethernet cable.\u00a0 You know, that blue or grey cable that you plug into the back of your computer and then into the wall?<\/p>\n
This stuff.<\/p>\n
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100′ feet of ethernet cable for $19.<\/p><\/div>\n
I supported the business of one of our local hams, Home Depot, and picked up a 100′ roll of Cat 6 ethernet cable for $19.<\/p>\n
This would be all the wire that I will need for this antenna.
\nYES.. I KNOW.. this wire is SOLID and not stranded.
\nI know, yup, it might break,
\nyup.. it will not be durable.. yup.
\nGot it.\u00a0 I know all of this.
\nThis was a proof of concept.
\nCan it be done and can it be done cheap?
\nAnd.. Can you work anyone with it?<\/p>\n
As far as the cable, where are you going to find 800′ of stranded 24 gauge wire for $19?\u00a0 I would have gladly used it.<\/p>\n
What.. what?\u00a0 Jay.. you said you got an 100′ length NOT 800′ ?<\/strong><\/p>\n Correct! CAT5 or CAT6 ethernet cable has 8 different wires running inside of the outer sheath.\u00a0\u00a0 When you peel back the sheath, it looks like this.<\/p>\n This is the what the inside of an ethernet cable looks like.. 4 pairs of twisted cable.<\/p><\/div>\n So.. a 100′ ethernet cable has eight 100′ lengths of solid (23 or 24 gauge<\/em>) wire in it.\u00a0\u00a0 That has a lot of possibilities for a temporary, portable, emergency antenna!<\/p>\n I also had a SO-239 coax connector in the hamfest junk box (We all have one of these right?\u00a0 Those items you pick up at a hamefest and think.. ” I will use that sometime..”), I think I paid a buck for it at the local hamfest.<\/p>\n SO.. all in, about $20 TOTAL for the antenna.<\/p>\n What will I get with this $20?\u00a0 Well, if everything works according to plan, a resonant (aka NO TURNER NEEDED) HF antenna that can cover the following bands with one feedline: 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m 10m and 6m as a bonus.\u00a0 All from the same 100′ of cable.<\/p>\n How is this done?\u00a0\u00a0 I based this design off these two links.<\/p>\n I used these links as the foundation for my antenna plan.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.hamuniverse.com\/hc4w4bwsgroundplane.html<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.hamuniverse.com\/kl7jrmultibandvert4010.html<\/a><\/p>\n Both of these designs have all of the vertical radiating elements coming from the center conductor of one connector.\u00a0 So, all the vertical “elements” are all soldered together, and the radials are strung out (as a bundle or separate) for each band.<\/p>\n Thinking that this was a “Quick and Dirty Proof of Concept<\/strong>“, I took my 100′ roll of ethernet cable to three equal 33′ lengths.\u00a0 One would be taped to my 31′ jackite pole as the vertical radiator, and the other two would lay on the ground as the radials, one laid out to the east, the other laid out the west.\u00a0 Yes, all the ethernet wires were all still in the sheath and wrapped twisted around each other.\u00a0 I didn’t make any attempt to untwist them.<\/p>\n From there I measured the length that I would need for each band, and opened the sheath to “cut” the designated cable at that length, then would measure out to the next length (such as 16′ 6″ for 20m) and then open the sheath again, find the orange<\/strong> and orange stripe<\/strong> wires based upon my notes, then cut them.<\/p>\n You can see the color code I designed for each band as well as the lengths I used to make a 1\/4 wave vertical on 40\/30\/20\/17\/10. I used a free app on my iPhone to get the needed lengths, however, the links I posted above also have them included.<\/p>\n Notes for constructing the ethernet cable vertical<\/p><\/div>\n I decided to “double up” on the three bands that I use the most, knowing that the wire was brittle. So for the 40m band I used two stands, as well as two on 20m and then again 2 on 17m.\u00a0 Then a single strand for 30m and 10m, therefore using all 8 wires.<\/p>\n Jay?\u00a0 You said this would work on 15 and 6 too?\u00a0 What wires did you use there?<\/strong><\/p>\n Great catch!\u00a0 15m and 6m are multiple wavelengths of 40m.\u00a0 So, I didn’t use any wire for those bands at all, and they should be resonant based upon the 40m vertical.<\/p>\n![\"image](\"https:\/\/www.n1rwy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/twisted2.jpg\")
Design<\/h4>\n
Assembly<\/h4>\n
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