Co phased Ground Plane antennas. 30 feet in the air, and on a rotor. Standard 75 ohm co-phase harness, and a barrel connector used to connect it to My 50 ohm coax.
Back between 1982-1988 was on the upper channels dx'ing. Had a modified President Madison and 400 watt amp. Collected up some black iron pipe and home brewed a tilt-over tower that stood 84 feet. Started out with a Wilson Y-quad and then built a full 2-ele-quad. Later put up a 5/8th (mighty magnum) wave vertical. Had a ball talking all over the world. The 11 meter band was wide open back then. Retired now. Enjoy watching your channel. :)
Here in USA 🇺🇸 California USA 🇺🇸 ch 6 conditions are … intense and Competition Radio 📻? Not for my mud duck 🦆 radio 📻 or maybe 🤔 555 Bahamas CB poker ♥️ and chips fall where they may
Brilliant. Simply brilliant. You inspire me (and others, obviously). I wish I were as young as you are. No more climbing on the roof for this old geezer. BTW, I heard you this morning on ch. 35 LSB talking with someone in Chicago, I think, but conditions weren't good for me to you. Maybe one of these days I can be honored to have a QSO with you, 151. And I really liked Barb's comments. Happy 4/20. 73 from Unit 807 -- the Old Buzzard in southern Illinois.
I hear You, It won't be many more years till I can't go up on the roof anymore too. It's kind of funny to see Me come down off the roof....I crawl on My hands and knees. Yup, I was on 35 lsb for a little while today, I wish We could have made a contact, When We do.....the honor will be Mine! Take care 807, and Happy 4/20 to You too! 73's from 151 SC.
Hey Mower Junkie - I just come along your channel and I need to say “WoW”. Back in 1973 - my wife and I had the Realistic TRC-46. I still own it. In the house we used a Yaesu 101 for CB with a Moonraker 4 on the roof. After watching your video - I’m believing you and your wife take a lot more pride in your set-up than I did with mine. It’s always a lot more rewarding when you put your own system together and get the results that you just achieved. To make your own “Beastly Antenna” and get a 1 to 1 SWR - - That’s almost impossible. “Way to go”...
Thank You so much! I spent a lot of time designing this antenna, and I couldn't be happier. it looks great, and works great too! Thanks for watching, 73's from 151 SC.
Decent build matey ! I built a 2 ele cubical quad for portable, I could assemble and take it down in about 5 mins, for 10m/11m it was bloody awesome. The boom was square thin wall aluminium, and the spreaders were old army tent poles I picked up at a surpless store. With a 1/4 wave length of 75ohm coax as a matching stub I got a 1.3 to 1 SWR at the lowest point, and it was under 2 from the bottom of 11 to the top of 10.
You've got yourself a nice little dual diversity pair of stardusters I like it kind of reminds me of the old set of IMAX antennas I put up going opposite directions about 30° up from flat had to use a pair of 75 ohm cables quarter wave long times the velocity Factor get it to work right and a couple other little deals but yeah Homebrew that's the way to go man when it works you feel 10 times better than just going out and buying something
I just completed this antenna build, I used two ss 102 whips and 4, 4ft Wilson fiberglass antennas for ground radials. It's turned out awesome, it looks like something I would have bought from a store. That's just my opinion. My swr's aren't quite as good as yours, but I've got 1.3 to 1 on channel 1, 1.2 to 1 on channel 20 and 1.1 to 1 on 40. I usually talk on 38 lsb so I'm happy with my swr readings. Love you're channel, keep bringing on the antenna builds, love em !
@Luis Perez who can afford to? They're close to $100 apiece anymore. Not worth it for a home brew antenna. You'd have $300 to $400 wrapped up in radiators and radials if you used 102's for the entire build. Compromised radials are the norm anyhow. The Sirio GPE 27 5/8 ground plane has three radials that aren't but maybe 4 or 4 feet and the Tornado 27 has slightly shortened radials. Both perform plenty fine
@@LuisPerez-xe6nu I thought about it, but it came down to money. I still want to use all ss whips to see if it will preform any better, but as it is right now I'm very happy with the antenna.
Good job. It’s great with the rotor. You can null out interference and at the same time get some gain vertically polarized . Great video as always MJ. Art NJ
Like John said this antenna should be directional in the direction the ground radials are pointing. Theoretically it should have less forward gain than the 3 element beam also the purpose of the beam is to give you forward gain eliminating or should I say reducing signals coming from the back and sides of the beam. This antenna has some gain in the direction the radials are pointing and allows you to hear signals coming from all directions it's like having a omnidirectional and directional antenna all in one. If you are building this for cb channels separation between antennas should be a quarter wave apart around 9 feet the coax for the cophased rg59 around 18 to 20 feet on each side 75ohm to achieve a 50 ohm at the radio. 73's...
I don't want to complicate things but Iam sure some are wondering or thinking about this lol. Rg59 is rather small coax there is also rg6 and rg11 coax more expensive less loss probably handle a little more power but the lenght for each side will be shorter both are 75ohm and not that hard to get it's used for cable systems and stuff like that. For low power or reasonable power stations rg59 is a no brainer already made and plug and play like they say. 73's..
This antenna looks and appears to perform great. It also has the bonus of being quite compact, which would be ideal for my small garden. I know you show the parts you used, but do you have a list of what's required so a technical incompetent like me could construct one ?. All the best from across the pond.
What an amazing antenna, like the comment from Robert M. below, that is an *amazing* antenna, getting the resonance correct first time is simply amazing. You are a fantastic engineer, and I agree with your XYL ! This is lovely to watch.
The spacing is not critical on this design. it will work best with 9 to 10 foot spacing. I used a factory made 18' co-phase for mine, and a barrel connector to attach it to my coax. Thanks for watching, 73's from 151 SC.
great video lovely antanna its a pity over here in Ireland nobody uses am anymore.we do have a choice to use fm but only rarely used only when propgaion is in. Most use the upper band on ssb 27.555 calling channel
John Boy Utah, Brenda’s hubbie. Nice video great antenna! Got off my bump and cause of COVID prison studied got tech and general same day, and I found out I do still love CB no radio snob’s just everyday people like sly said! At seventy four I am going to do all radio. Our brothers from the UK have some good video’s also there is a big rebound in CB in the UK because of COVID . Wish I had a CB store near SLC, Utah the way you do CHOW😎🇺🇸🎙
Excellent! Wish you had rotated it 180° during QSO with 1963 Jamaica, so we could hear the received signal drop to below the noise as the side null is pointed at him, and then hear the peak build when it rotates to where it is again broadside to the other station. If you S-meter is linear, you can calculate the front & back to side ratio in db that way. Nicely done!
You're right, I should have rotated it. I have rotated it while talking to locals, one of them gives me a 6db signal pointed at him, and a 3db on the sides. Thanks for watching, 73's from 151 SC.
They may say you are crazy but the stuff you build works better then the stuff you purchase keep doing this you should sell the design kit so others can build it at home you are the modern Heath Kit of antennas Keep up the good work I heard the Jamaican station 1963 Friday night 4 /16/2021 from NJ
That looks like a Jo Gunn antenna except that a Beam has a reflector, a driver, and a director. This doesn't. You will find that this antenna will radiate in a figure 8 pattern off of the sides of the antenna so it will get out better from the either side rather than off either end. It looks great and brings back memories when I use to play around with antennas in my back yard in the 80's. Keep up the good work. I enjoy all your videos.
@@MowerJunkie thanks. I've built a lot of antennas. But the math seems to get in the way. Especially with dipoles. But this groundplane of yours really cool. Beautiful in its simplicity
For your next homebrew antenna project you might consider building a two element quad beam. Back in 1978 I had an Avanti PDL-2 Quad beam on the roof at about 35 feet that got out great! It would effectively multiply my transmit power by 16 times (4 watts would get out like 64 watts and 100w would get out like 1600w!) What's cool about a two element quad beam is: 1 - It has a shorter boom length than your phased beam in this video 2 - It's a wire antenna, rather than using aluminum elements (although, it does use an aluminum boom to space the elements) 3 - It provides the ability to switch between vertical and horizontal polarization (although, it does require two feedlines) 4 - It provides both gain in the forward direction and rejection of signals coming in from the rear of the antenna 5 - The rear element is totally passive, requiring no connection (the rear element wires are slightly longer than the driven front element) 6 - The wires are bent around the spreaders so it isn't as tall or wide as straight elements, which means it can be rotated in a smaller space A step up from the two element quad would be a three or four element quad. You may recall the legendary Moonraker 4 antennas that were popular in the 70's. They had a reflector element at the rear - like the PDL-2 - then a driven element in front of that and then two passive director elements that further narrowed the beam in front of that. And, of course, there was the big boy beam - the Moonraker 6 antennas that had a 36 foot boom and SIX elements - the reflector, the driven element, and then FOUR passive director elements! The Moonraker 6 would effectively multiply your transmit power by a whopping 50 times! Thanks, for the video!
I also had a PDL2 back in the '90s. Mine came apart and was destroyed during a microburst. The hard part of duplicating this great antenna is trying to find an economical way to fabricate the "orbital" spherical ball skeleton.
@@johnsortore4470 I had a Moonraker 4 in the late 80s that got caught in a tree and mangled the director elements pretty bad. A friend fabricated a PDL-II out of the remnants. To make the orbital elements, he bent the aluminum tubing around the trunk of another tree. Worked great.
From a fellow country boy, that's country boy engineering if I ever saw it! Great stuff 151. Regards to your wife. I love the way the supports you. 424 Whiskey Runner Royal, AR
I had a dual polarity Moonraker 4 at one time and was able to switch polarity using the switch box provided with the antenna. I noticed that when the skip signals would start to fade on vertical polarity I could switch to horizontal and the signal would come back up. When it would start to fade on horizontal I would go back vertical and again, the signal would come back up. As the skip signals bounce off of the atmosphere, the polarity will change. That is why it is good to have both horizontal and vertical when shooting skip. Changing back and forth while talking local will not help much. Flat side will normally work a little better for local if both party's are running flat but both stations need to be the same polarity when talking local. Being able to switch polarity on signals that are half scale or fading out is a real advantage when shooting skip. Nice job on the antenna mower junkie.
Absolutely right! I have multiple antennas setup, and I use switch boxes to switch from antenna to antenna. sometimes You need a vertical, sometimes a horizontal. and sometimes a ground plane is all You need. Thanks for watching, 73's from 151 SC.
hello mower junkie,name here is Ray,i just looked at your video,and i am pleased to see you out there spreading the good will among fellow cb"ers ....i will be sending you an email with some info in the subject line i will put the word moonrakker,so that you will know its from metake xare job well done.
Nice 👍 job. Way back in the late 70s I had a PDL 2 that was similar and it was amazing. On simplex I could hit contacts over 30 miles during the day and at night and 50. Good luck 🍀
Im not to knowledgable of the co-phased antennas. Question, both the 102 whips are not active at the same time are they? In meaning, you have both the coax going into a switch box. What would happen if you had a splitter connector to connect both coax and was able to run only one cable to the switch box
Does this have 4 lobes? Co phase projects perpendicular to the elements but if it works a bit like a yagi it would project front to back, I'm guessing it has 4 lobes and does a bit of both, i guess you can test that with the rotator. How about add 4 more 102" instead of those loaded sticks. I have a metal roof and thinking to try this in one direction, north if with directors along the roof apex, or east to west as co phase. If it works well with the roof as the ground plane i might be able to swivel a few 102" whips over the apex for directivity. Could be worse i guess. Another idea i had was to mount co phase on each of the 4 sides of my roof.
One suggestion and one question......suggestion - always use black zip ties outdoors. They are more UV resistant than the natural ones. My question - is there a reason that you don't have the radials in line with each other instead of the 3" stagger that you currently use where you mounted the 102" whips?
Looks fantastic! How did you arrive at the design? I'm interested in the calculations. I need a roof-mounted DX antenna (read 'small') that can reach Japan from east coast USA on 100 watts. Can yours do that? Also, what bands can it cover? Thanks!
Question: You put that antenna up with the 102s. The predator style antennas you had on it when it was in your garage,how do you think they would have worked? I'm asking because I have 2 of them all ready.
Love co-phased antennas, had a pair of co-phased quads up for a year, did the trick, look forward to hearing you in the skip if we ever get any "North 7" said that
So far this antenna has been great for both, Local and skip! I've talked to a few stations in Canada today, I think You should turn on Your radio. Take care North 7, 73's from 151 SC.
That's awesome, I enjoy building antennas myself, I think I'm going to try this one later this spring, 73' ..Whiskey November 115.. Yellowknife, NWT, Canada
151 SC. 406 NC. wow man this is awesome ! I gotta build one . I built your pvc copper ground plain antenna it works great . Love the videos you put out , they’re great for people like me, low on experience and funding . LoL I really learn a lot watching your videos keep up the good work 151 73’s to you and yours 406 back on the side
Mower Junkie, you are the man.. This one is a winner.. Hopefuly we will hook up some day.. 73s from North Atlantic 1221 Newfoundland, Canada.... Later..
Put a 15v 330µƒd capacitor across your S-meter and it will slow down both the meter movement and your AGC on SSB so it won't be so spastic and "pumping" sounding. Make sure you get the polarity correct, + goes to the meter wire that's not negative/ground. I bet you'll love it on SSB! You can put the Capacitor on a switch if you want it to be back to fast for AM.
Thank You. I have bought parts at metal suppliers, Yard sales, flea markets, or any place that has something I might be able to use. Thanks for watching, Take care.
You need to check out the hhsh like in hotel hotel double Bay I saw this antenna and CQ mag back in the 90s and it was for 6 hours and I extrapolated it into 11 love meter in a thing hanging from a pine tree I am here in Montana in my yard it's on a Hellyer. So you can spin it around directional directional fire through the h
I had. Mentioned cophasing. The one you had mounted., Hadn't thought of mounting like this, but like the concept? It should be a 3 0r 4 DBD gain, I assume it aims off the broadside, not the end. The beam on vertical might be more again ground wave, but locally it should require less turning. Very interesting way of getting more broadside gain yet hear ever one ok? I have a boom from an old Avanta 3 element Astro beam and am thinking of using so 4 foot whips to do something very similar to this thanks for sharing and also just doing it. Radioing at its finish!!!.
MJ, Is the reason for staggering the ground radials and positioning the whips between them due to function or strength? I was curious as to why the ground radials aren't exactly opposite each other.
Really nice build here in nova scotia close to salt water and the wind off st marys bay every thing has to be tripple size ans salt proof to stand up i have a 5 band vertical in the yard its a hustler its suppose to stand qit a bit of wind but i have 4 paracord guys so far its still up good video keep em comming
Looking at what looks like a Beam Style Antenna to me,I can't figure what is the front,and what is the back door. I looked at the performance on the SWR Meter and was very impressed!
There is no back door with this antenna radiation pattern is stronger in the direction of the radials on both sides. The weak side is at the ends of the boom. It's similar to a dipole I hope that helps.
Hello sir I love your antenna I was wondering if you could help build one of these example what kind of boom did you use and the exact dimensions I'm new in the cb world thanks for your time sir
I love the antenna! I just got a base station radio so I will be figuring out which antenna to go with. I am more interested in skip than local but would be nice to have both, if you have any suggestions for a relatively inconspicuous one let me know, I live in town so can't be too crazy looking haha.
Hi Mower team XYL and All friends on Channel. GOOD WORK OK ! What I enjoyed watching most....is the passion and love for the communications enthusiast, Well done, I like 73 A25SL
Just got thru with a long QSO with 1963 Jamaica On .525 LSB on 1/30/23 at 5:00 central We talked about you and both being subs. He said he hadn't talked with his good friend Mower Junkie in a while, due to cond on .385. He said he is on .515, mostly, and .50, .515, .525, and ( ? .60 ) All lsb. 73/88 from Mike DX21
The match on this antenna is almost flat, even with extra power. Springs would only add more weight to the antenna. Thanks for watching, 73's from 151 SC.
Very Nice Antenna sir. I do have a question though. To make it directional, you need a director and a reflector. Which one is which and where is the Gamma match?
they are co-phased, both sections are active. co-phased antennas are bi-directional, they concentrate the signal in 2 directions. this antenna design does not require a matching network of any kind, it has a natural 50 ohm resistance.
Where did you locate that Realistic radio at? Great antenna by the way. If iam not mistaken, you pop into Wagon master 390 channel (live stream) from time to time. I just picked up a RCI 2970n3 that iam working on getting set up here at the homestead, maybe we can get a DX QSO going. Great channel, thanks for sharing your antenna build. 73's to you!!!✌
I have 2 of those TRC-451 realistic's, I found one on ebay, and a friend gave me the other. 390 WagonMaster has a cool channel that I do enjoy watching. Take care Eric, Good luck with that 2970. 73's from 151 SC.
