Something out of nothing

Well, almost nothing. I wanted to take part in a club net on a 70cm repeater but the only rig I have for that band is a VX-2 HT, which only puts out 375mW. I couldn't hit the repeater from my QTH using the whip antenna but I don't have much money to spend on ham gear these days so I hunted around to find something I could build with what I had on hand. The result is this oddball combo of a quad and a yagi, called a Quagi, which I built with about 10 feet of #14 copper wire, a 4-foot hardwood dowel and some duct tape. Damned if the thing doesn't work!

http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/z...ose/quagi2.jpg

HELL YEAH BRO! FBOM hihi

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Originally Posted by KG4CGC

HELL YEAH BRO! FBOM hihi

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RR.

Went up on a hill back of the place and managed to hit a repeater on Palomar Mountain, about fifty miles north. Not bad for a bit over one-third of a watt.

Good job!

'Tis all about gain, and it's easy to get with shorter wavelengths.

Oh, and FB OM HI HI.

RIGHT ON!!!!

I don't buy antennas, unless they are for mobiling (It's easier to buy the whip + ferrule as one piece). For home use: Homebrew all the way :)

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Originally Posted by KJ6BSO

Well, almost nothing. I wanted to take part in a club net on a 70cm repeater but the only rig I have for that band is a VX-2 HT, which only puts out 375mW. I couldn't hit the repeater from my QTH using the whip antenna but I don't have much money to spend on ham gear these days so I hunted around to find something I could build with what I had on hand. The result is this oddball combo of a quad and a yagi, called a Quagi, which I built with about 10 feet of #14 copper wire, a 4-foot hardwood dowel and some duct tape. Damned if the thing doesn't work!

http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/z...ose/quagi2.jpg

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Pure awesomeness!!!

Necessity being the mother(fscker) of invention, I've thrown together more than a few contraptions like that over the years. Yours is the first I've seen with a loop as driven and reflector elements; most use one for the reflector only.

Nice work!

I have a beautiful PVC and welding rod cubical quad that Charles and Brad picked up for me in Charlotte I think it was, it worked awesomely well with my VX2R too...... I do well with wire....... hidden in the trees, than I do with anything else. Charles and I did some dual band copper tubing j-poles once...... as I recall we ended up with like 2 that worked out of 5 and the 3 that didn't work were a total FAIL........ they didn't work ANYWHERE and for no apparent reason.

I started a fad with a bunch of newbies by suspending a twin lead j-pole up in a tree.

Some of 'em bought SWR meters, antenna analyzers (for those who had the money), soldering irons, twin lead, coax, and the PL-259 plugs. A lot was learned, but we had a few frustrated dropouts who had their buddies build them. We built dipoles and "coat hanger" verticals too. I politely refused to build any, and deflected by insisting on the learning experience.

Later, I stuffed that twin lead J-pole in a PVC pipe for mast mounting.

I'm not hep enough with electronics to build anything much more complicated than the code practice oscillator I put together on a solderless breadboard yesterday (although I'm working on learning more) but antennas are something I can build. All mine are homebrew with the exception of the G5RV, which I bought new in the package at a ham fest for ten bucks. I figured I couldn't build one for that little since I'd have to buy at least 25 feet of window line.