What I like from Tim's video is the consistent use of metric system. It is weird to watch people measuring wires in feet for amateur bands that measure in meters 😂
Thank you Tim. I am new to the radio hobby. It is very interesting and enjoyable. The simplicity of making these antenna have helped me tremendously and also gave savings in my pocketbook. Commercially purchased items can be very expensive.
They work really well Tim, I was able to do back to back tests with a T2LT that I made, and a shop bought 1/2 wave vertical on 10m, no difference on either TX or RX, I was so impressed I made one for 6m too! 73 M0KED.
Took my T2LT for a test today Tim and the VSWR is 1:2 at 27 MHz and 1:4 at 29 MHz. I am happy with this result. 10 meters was dead this arvo but made a local contact on 28.490 MHz
Great video Tim. I made the 5 turn coil version a while ago, but for the top portion I used 10 mm aluminium tubing. This way I could mount it on top of my military fiberglass mast instead of hanging it down. Gained extra hight with that.
@@vsmichael1 Hi Mike, I have used it two ways over the years. One is a 10m pole strapped to a fence post, and the other is I have those suction grips (for gripping glass panes), attach one to the side of the car and lash the 10m pole to the side of the car. Both worked extremely well.
Thanks for showing this, it brought back fond memories. I made one similar to this for 11-meter CB back in 1975 when our ground plane got destroyed in a storm. No balun coil, just took the end of the RG-58 coax, removed a quarter wavelength of the outer jacket and cut it into two equal lengths. I spread the braid where the jacket ended and pulled the center conductor and dielectric out the opening. I then used one jacket piece to tie the center conductor and dielectric to one tree, and the other piece to tie the braided shield to another tree, horizontally polarized. Hooking up the SWR bridge it would barely budge the needle, reading 1:1 across the entire band. Fortunately it was aimed the direction we needed, and I had all kinds of people I spoke with on it saying I couldn't be talking on a piece of coax!
@alvin pope Unfortunately no pictures, I was 17 at the time, going to tech school for electronics. Had started learning it as a hobby, was fixing CB radios and stereos, installing them and other related stuff. Worked part time at a few CB shops. Wish I'd had a camera to take a picture of someone actually mis-wiring RG-58 coax into a PL-259 connector without a UG-175 (176?) adapter, they unbraided the shield and soldered it to the center pin, the center conductor to the shell. If I hadn't seen it I wouldn't believe it, HOW does someone swap polarity on a _coaxial_ connector?!?‽
Hello Tim, The T2LT is a great antenna. I have redimensioned the T2LT for 2 meters about 47 centimeter per leg (mind the velocity factor) with 8 turns on a 4 centimeter diameter plastic pipe. It is my antenna for my local net. On a 12 meter pole I can get as far as 50 kilometers on 25 watt. I my opinion it can keep up with much more expensive commercial antenna's easily. My greatest distance so for with my 10 meter version is Chilli 12.266 kilometers. (from the Netherlands). Great antennas that keep amazing me.
Traditionally, the lower element would be formed with another layer of shield, typically sourced from the top section. (Note of course that since the diameter has to be increased, that you'll need significantly more length as it shrinks in length as it is expanded in diameter to fit over the outer jacket.) In other words, the feedline snakes up inside the lower element, which is another layer of shield. The design shown in this video has the lower element effectively formed with the outer surface of the coax's shield, and choked off at the bottom. One concern with this design approach is that the bottom of the lower element is a very Hi-Z point, so there isn't much current to be choked off. It's a high voltage point. So you may see more feedline current (another quarter-wave down the line) than expected, as it escapes past the choke as a voltage (not a significant current). Also worth mentioning, the choke dimensions are not as mm-critical as implied. It's a choke, which is rarely a precision value component in any design. Cheers.
Yes, that is the description of a true, "coaxial antenna." This antenna here I see with a couple of other names. The quarter wave braided shield over the outer insulation used to be thought good for isolating the feed line from the antenna, but the design did suffer from narrow frequency range / narrow SWR range and TVI / television interference, due to feed line radiation. The traditional coaxial halfwave antenna was said to have the lowest angle of radiation or gain. When a choke is added to the antenna, the frequency range / SWR range greatly improves and the TVI is reduced. The choke is to choke current, even if it is an a voltage point on the antenna. Choking voltages does little for antenna performance and causes greater losses. A current choke is still preferred over a voltage choke for function, although a voltage choke may provide a very slight amount of current choking, but a voltage choke causes even greater losses though. I would no refer to the antenna in this video as a coaxial antenna, even if it is made of coax. It doesn't fit the design. Much of the current to choke will be harmonic frequencies, but also to reduce base frequency radiation from the feed line.
Great video Tim. I wasn't quite right with my earlier guess. Might be fun to try a bit of casual DX'ing with this on either 17m or 15m when the bands pick up in the summer.
Thanks Tim! I’ve got one final empty socket on the rig and I fancy a coax 10m vertical dangling from the far tree. Probably something along these lines or the one Mike did 👍🏻
G5TM I made the first one you made today. I ordered 50 feet of RG58 & it came in. I used a gator aid bottle to wrap the coil. This weekend I’ll get the pvc pipe.
Rather than stripping the coax, why not just put 2.5 meters of wire on the end. That would save you 2.5 meters of cable. You could leave the PL-259 on the end and solder the radiating wire to an SO-239 and connect it that way. You could also build an antenna from the choke up and put an SO-239 a few inches under the choke and have several antennas made. Thank you for the video. I never really thought of using a coaxial dipole before but I find myself in a flat in Madrid and your idea may be the only option I have for operating.
RG58 isn't pricey, but yes for longer antennas it'd be a waste; I've used a separate piece of wire for this. One suggestion I'd have though - start with a tail of a few cm of the inner part of the coax to take advantage of the insulation, I stripped back to the prescribed length and found it was easy to accidentally short it at the join :(
I just built this antenna after watching your video I had a bunch of surplus rg6 cable tv coax 75 ohm I said what the heck and tried it. It worked great cut it long it was wide banded below 1.4 through the cb band and all the way to the middle of the fm 10 meter band. I finally found a use for all this cable coax. THANKS.
Well i do struggle with an antenna and i do have tones of coax 75 ohm cable. Have to try this definitely. Did you use the one with the pvc pipe or did you made the one with the 110mm pipe??? Very interested
Great video Tim. I’ve made and tried both of those versions and both work really well on 10/11m Look forward to working you on your 10m net when it happens.
great job Tim. if the size of coil off a mm or 3 that still fine and works. I used 54 MM with RG-8X . 16 turns. great band width. and their is a 3 Rd way to make it. FT 240-43 Toroid for the coil. great fun in the US as well . 73's
Good job Tim. I have seen one of those commercially made ones that you describe and they are finished off at the top so that the end folds back on itself a little and then held with a little piece of unshrunk heat shrink so that the antenna can be adjusted longer or shorter. I think i will make one this weekend just to see but i will try 6 or 8 ferrite beads slipped over the RG58 at the 2.47m mark and heat shrunk to make the choke that way. Sid.
Pulled up into a tree, perfect, except there are not a lot of trees on top on mountains around here! Factor in a fibreglass pole and price goes up a bit, but of course the pole can be used for other antennas/aerials. Cheers Tim. :-))
I've made something similar for 6 Meters, might have ago at making one of these as I've plenty of RG58 to spare! Hope to catch you on 10 meters when we are allowed out again.
I've heard of these and hear they work well, what I have read is the coax shield should be peeled over the coax itself and pulled down from the radiating portion of the antenna for the counterpoise???, aparently it doesn't matter. Great demonstration, thank you for sharing this with us!!! 🇺🇸
That's funny it looks just like a sirio gain master antenna lol I just made it and it works well on 10 meters been chatting to my mate's on it and Rx and TX no problems Tim thanks for sharing brilliant
This aerial design was higly used in the past ...the fun part is that peoples pay a fortune for antennas like the "gainmaster".....and this always makes me laugh haha ! Another GREAT video Tim, well done Old Man !
Hello Tim I’ve made the antenna and my swr is high I think it’s because I’ve hooked it up on the ceiling. Because I can’t put an antenna on the house yet,. How do you swr the RG58 dipole in please..
Ok, now i have seen the impedance. Tnx. I will try it and probably try to get it a bitt more broad banded (capacitor peace of coax?). They’re great and also great to try out things. 73 HB3XBL 👍🇨🇭
I built and hung one for 11m between 2 trees and at the same tip height as my neighbor's Sirio Vector 4000 and with the same power we hit a guy on a ridge at 110 miles with the same S-6. Now I'm planning to build & hang a home-spun Sirio Gain Master wire and I bet I'll gain 3-5dB.
Great video. Thanks. Do you have any comments on how high off the ground the bottom end of the antenna (the coil) should be? Can they be mounted close (like less than a meter) to the ground or would a 1/4 height be better?
Yes they can be.. will be increase in ground losses but not so much as you’ll notice. A metre is probably the lowest I’d go before tuning might become problematic with these antennas.
Tim, This video was on the money. Would like to see the shootout you mentioned - to see if there was a discernible difference in performance (maybe use an SDR and SDR Sharp to illustrate the difference?). Since I am still working my way through 100 metres of cheapo 75 ohm coax, I think I may have a go and see how that works for me. Cheers, Pete 2E0WHT
@@timg5tm941 It is on my list. I got a pole and coax out with that intention this morning but being nine days away from the full exam, that takes priority at the moment. Funny how I procrastinate and still make time to watch RU-vid... That said, I am currently using Cornish Radio Amateur Club Training videos to good effect
@Peter Snipe, you could save that 75 ohm Coax for Co-phasing harnesses, should really be using 50 ohm coax for antenna and feed lines. That 75 ohm as far as I know is mostly used for TV Rx or Co-phased harness arrays.
@@stoatrepublic 50 ohm would be easier and more expensive. So far my half wave di-pole is giving very good results with the 75 ohm feeder. Currently throwing together an end fed with same. For me it's about using what is around me and adapting to those materials (like the very early days of amateur radio), rather than out and out performance. 73, Pete M0WHT
Radio Shack or Tandy Electronics, use to sell an antenna like this made out of fibreglass I think it had a inductor coil in the base so it would fit in the fibreglass tube at the bottom. It's a reasonable antenna, but no where as good as a.. 0.64 wave antenna you can also make with a bit more difficulty. But they do work much better. Tandy etc shut down in Australia it was purchased by Dick Smith Electronics, he eventually sold it to a supermarket chain and they stuffed the retail business up.
Hello Tim! Nice little project and neat work. Not a critique but I’ve noticed something wrong on your mfj antenna analyzer. I’ve got the 269 so I should know how it works. The analog needle to right showing impedance seems to be out of calibration. In fact if you check R and X on the display and “add” them up ( with pitagora) they give you the impedence. In the very first example you had R57 and X4 which gives Z 57.14 whereas your needle there shows 90. In the second example R60 X6 which gives Z60.3 but the needle there is reaching 100. Perhaps you might want to run a general check to the mfj. Just wanna let you know. Thank you for all the nice contents you have on your channel. 73s and hope to catch you on the air. Diego
Thanks Tim, another great video. I have made one of these for 6M and intend to make one for 10M soon. I was very interested how well the second RF trap performed. I have wondered what results would be like with that approach and I think a compromise on bandwidth is worth it for the ease and convenience of option 2.
I’m about to build one of these antennas. Which design is better overall? I like the idea of having more bandwidth, but would it be at the expense of performance? Thanks so much
@@timg5tm941 thanks so much for the response! I’m curious why you recommend the wider one? Just easier to make, or does it perform differently than the thinner, longer one? Thanks
Great video Tim. Is there a calculator for these T2LT antennas? How did you figure out the lengths of the two sections of the antenna? Then, how did you figure out the length of cable for the choke? Any help would be appreciated. 73's Ernest Bazzinotti, KC1LKB
Hi Tim, thanks for the video; this deliberate feeder radiation is a trick which is jolly useful but not known by many. Do you know what is the loss of the insulating tape around the wider coil? Also: I guess that the input Z at the feedpoint is 75 Ohm; maybe using a 1/4-wave of ~ 60 Ohm coax (if you can find it these days!) would give an even better match to 50 Ohm? Perhaps therefore also increase the 1.5:1 SWR bandwidth.
had some contacts from Israel on 10 meters on FT8 the other week, was very suprised ! be interested to see how the T2LT works out, could be something i put on the 705.
Nice video Tim. I made one of these for last seasons 10m activity and it worked great. One question though, I couldn't decide if the length of the antenna should be adjusted in length for the velocity factor of the RG58 (.66). Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.
Great question. I think this design is quite forgiving so I go by the ‘usual’ half wave formula, cut slightly long and trim if needed. I’ve never been far off at all with that approach.
Greetings friends, I need your advice. I have a station Alinco DX-10 and an antenna Santiago 1200, I have it at home, and since I do not have a chance to make a large assembly I bought a small metal stand and a magnetic base, the metal bracket attach it near the window with some Plastic flanges so that it is well suited. My problem is that it is impossible to calibrate the antenna and make it go down Roe .. Just lower the Roe when I hold the magnetic base with your hand. So I think there should be a mass problem, any idea? Thank you and greetings from Andorra (Translated with SR Google)
Hi Tony you could either fold the top back to tune it to 29.6 MHz or if you want to try a precise measure try 2.37m for bottom and 2.40m for top half. I’d try the fold back method first. Alternatively make it a few cm shorter both halves and it’ll tune around 28.7 or so and still give you probably less than 2:1 vswr at 29.6 and 28.4 MHz
Hello Tim, I hope you are well I've attempted to make this antenna today but for some reason the swr is high between 2 and 3 any ideas what I can do to adjust this ? I've checked and double checked the measurements and they are all spot on, not sure if it matters or not but I'm on a cobra 148 gtl dx on low mid and high, thanks in advance I really appreciate your time 👍
For the red part of the antenna on the graphic you just cut the shield there and didn't fold back the shield from the top half? So it's an end fed dipole, not a center fed dipole? Also, what is the black pole, is that carbon fiber or what?
Help! Mounted in the same place and at the same hight, which of these 3 halfwave antennas would work better for DX.... This coax anteena, or a vertical EFHW, or a coil-loaded halfwave like the Antron 99. Or are they all the same? The reason I ask is that it just seems easier to make a 49:1 transformer (and a 1:1 CMC choke if needed), and then cut a halfwave piece of wire for each band. Would that work as well as this coax antenna? Thanks.
Thanks for the video! Would it be worth terminating to an SO239 just below the coil to use your own lower loss feeder? I suppose using 2-3m of RG58 fly lead as the feeder losses would be negligible anyway?
@@timg5tm941 Well, its certainly on my list to build! I started my DX Commander Expedition build today. Your videos also inspired a bit of reading for 6m and 4m versions of the T2LT which are also on the build list!
Looks like a fun antenna to build. Without standing on my head to understand the relationship between the number of turns of coax for the choke and the diameter of the form to wind it, I see the general principles. Here in the states, I do not have readily findable PVC pipe of those exact dimensions, although I could come close I suppose. Maybe I am not far away. PVC diameters are measured in inner size, so if find a piece of 4-inch PVC, the outer diameter is closer to the 4.33 inches or 110 mm required. I do not have a caliper to measure the thickness of the wall of the PVC pipe, but perhaps with my antenna analyzer, I can build a prototype to see where the minimum VSWR resides. The plastic pipe I have access to is the white PVC commonly used in home drain plumbing here. I look forward to testing and comparing against my halfwave endfed wire I would typically use in my QRPp activities with my QRPme EFHW tuner (Tuna Tunah). 10M seems to be hot now. Cheers es 72, Davey - KU9L
I dont strip back the coax i solder a wire to the center dielectric and use the 5 turns choke and i get 1.3x1 from 28.000 to 1.5x1 at 28.700 it works great i dx with it all the time and get great signal reports.
This design is based on a half wave vertical dipole / where the top dielectric portion is 1/4 wave and the untouched coax makes up the other half and all works great ! now if a person wanted to make a 5/8 wave length antenna any idea on how the measurement would differ? Would the dielectric portion Be 5/8 long And if so, how long would the untouched coax be before the choke? Supposedly 5/8 Gives a lower takeoff angle and an increase in gain
@@timg5tm941 well I finally got my home brew doublet up about 25’ used 450 ohm LL for all portions I am really happy with it - the legs are 33’ long and also include a center wire weaved between the LL - so triple linear load - could use some help getting 60m tuned in and also 10 meters - do you do do anything differently? The needles will not deflect at all on those bands
Instead of stripping back a huge length of coax for the upper element, couldn't you solder that same length of solid-core 12-guage wire as the radiating element instead? That would save "wasting" 8-1/2 feet of expensive coax that could better serve as the lead-in. Couldn't the choke be terminated with an SO-259 so that the lead could be detached or even upgraded (say, to RG-8X)? Also, I am curious.. what effect would it have to install the choke so that it encircles the mast? I'm sure that might depend on whether the mast was conductive (metal) or not (PVC).
For this antenna at 60p per metre the expense is £1.50. Given there’ll be no potentially breakable solder join too i think the extra 1.50 is worthwhile. The choke can indeed be terminated at its end to allow lower loss coax as the feed. As long as the pole is non conductive it’s all good.
@@timg5tm941 Maybe it's cheap where you are, but no so much here in the U.S. I'm lucky if I can find plain 12-ga copper wire at $0.60 per foot - more than 3 times your price!
how many microhenry's are you trying to chase with these coils. i discovered a website from another video about making ugly balun chokes. if i use the calculator for rg58 with that former of 68mm i played with the formula to get the 16 turns and it appears your about 11.5 microhenry's.
Hi Tim ! I want to adapt this antenna for 2m, and I would like to figure out how to calculate the shoke length / diameter. I haven't found any info online (nothing explained for frequencies above 50 MHz) .Thanks a lot !
There's something I'm not getting on this one and I don't know if I'm missing understanding it or if it's mislabeled. This is being described as a half wave antenna. Since it's an end fed dipole it's total length maybe a a half wave 5 meters however only 50% of it is the center conductor and the other 50% of it is the ground portion of an end fed dipole. Doesn't that make it an end fed quarter wave dipole not a half wave? A 1/4 dipole has 2.5 meters on one side and 2.5 meters on the ground side. That may make the total length of the antenna 5 meters however because it's half ground and half driven element it's a quarter wave antenna? The choke isolates the ground side from being any longer than 2.5 and the unshielded side is limited by it's own length at 2.5 meters. To me that ads up to a quarter wave antenna. Just food for thought from an old HAM in the U.S. No matter how it works out the SWR speaks for it's self and I look forward to giving it a try.
@@timg5tm941 Whoops, I should know better than to watch these videos at 2 AM. Yes the total length is what determines that it's a half not just the driven element. Thank you for clearing my brain fog LOL. 73 OM
Could you please explain how you came up with 2.47m for the lower shielded length? I have difficulty figuring this out. I assume it has something to do with velocity factor .. but the vf of RG58 is .66 Sorry if this is a dumb question .. I'm new to this.
@@timg5tm941 Thanks for the reply .. but I'm interested to know HOW you arrived at the figure of 2.47 .. and why it is different to the driven element?
Tim, just one more question; out of all the antennas you have built and tried, which would you say was the best performing and impressed you the most on hf?
RG 58 has a velocity factor of 0.66 and based upon that it appears that the quarter wave sections should be much much shorter This is my calculation do you see anything that I've done incorrectly
I surely would try to build one of these antenna. Problem is, we may not have that kind of fibreglass poles from where I'm at. Can I use a bamboo pole instead?
I do ammo box radios , i think this may be good how much power can they handle i would like to use my radioditty cb27 and a 225 amp. Runs about 80 at 15.5 volts.
does it have to be 2 meters of the ground, could you put it on the ground to limit height? would it perform well with near a house with chose near the ground? and still near 18 feet from ground to height?
Hay ummm i see the swr is good . Im good with that part , but whats the deal with the ohms 80 an 90 almost 100 ohms whats going on there. This has me curious enough to try this out but using some different coax variables. I am in the United States. Anyway would a different size former or maybe 10 turns bring down to 52 ohms ? This will be my project today . Haha Take care . Great video. 199 florida georgia line..
Hi Tim, has anyone on the channel measured the inductance & self resonance of the chokes? From a calculation, the 16 turn is approx. 3x the L, which would certainly explain a different match. I suspect there's very little difference in practical performance. 73 John G0JLF
Provided it’s choking impedance is broad enough to cover the frequency of choice, yes. Although it’s a larger cost than the small amount of coax used for the 10m version.
