Three Part Copper J Pole Question.

[K9CCH]

I bought a 10' section of 1/2" copper pipe with all the fittings. I got everything soldered together and its sitting in the living room waiting to be mounted. Before I go any further I have a few more questions.

1.) I have purchased the PL-259 UHF connector, which will be soldered to copper pipe clamps. What is the best connecting material to go from the PL-259 to the short part of the J pole? Can I just strip a piece of 18 guage copper speaker wire, or do I need something more solid?

2.) There is an old satellite dish on my roof, leftover from the previous owners. Is it ok to mount the J Pole to this mast if I take the dish off? I was thinking that I would mount the J Pole to a 3" wooden dowel and then mount the dowel to the mast for a little extra added height.

3.) The satellite dish has a ground wire that is ran from it, to a metal strap that is connected to the metal utility pole that my electric meter is on. Can I keep that ground in place? Since the mast is screwed into the roof, I'm very paranoid about lightning hitting it. (I assume I'll know more about this once I get into reading the antenna book, but for now y'all are what I have to go on.)


Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[NQ6U]

Here's how I do it:

Attachment 10060

Get yourself four 1/2" copper pipe clamps. Flatten two of them in a vice, then drill a third hole in them using the unflattened ones as a guide. Use brass screws and nuts to bolt the clamps to the antenna and tuning stub tight enough to keep them from sliding down but not so tight that you can't move them. Bolt or solder the base of a SO-259 to one clamp, then run a length of 14 AWG solid copper wire from the center conductor pin to the other and solder it. Adjust the assembly up and down until you reach minimum SWR, then tighten the screws. Ideally, you should solder the clamps in place to the antenna but I never do and haven't run into any trouble so far.

As far as the grounding goes, j-poles are supposed to be connected to a DC ground. For reasons that I am unable to fathom, though, mine always seem to work better when they're mounted on a non-conductive mast and grounded with a wire or strap. YMMV on that one, of course.

[K9CCH]

Here's how I do it:

Get yourself four 1/2" copper pipe clamps. Flatten two of them in a vice, then drill a third hole in them using the unflattened ones as a guide. Use brass screws and nuts to bolt the clamps to the antenna and tuning stub tight enough to keep them from sliding down but not so tight that you can't move them. Bolt or solder the base of a SO-259 to one clamp, then run a length of 14 AWG solid copper wire from the center conductor pin to the other and solder it. Adjust the assembly up and down until you reach minimum SWR, then tighten the screws. Ideally, you should solder the clamps in place to the antenna but I never do and haven't run into any trouble so far..

Thats EXACTLY what I was planning on doing. I just didn't know if regular multi strand wire would work, or if I needed the solid stuff.

As far as the grounding goes, j-poles are supposed to be connected to a DC ground. For reasons that I am unable to fathom, though, mine always seem to work better when they're mounted on a non-conductive mast and grounded with a wire or strap. YMMV on that one, of course.

That's what I was thinking I'd put the length of wooden down in there for. Or PVC, one or the other. I just didn't know if it was safer to KEEP the ground, or remove it.

[W3WN]

No reason at all that you can't use the old SatDish mount.

My ARX-270 is mounted on the side of the house using one of those.

[kb2vxa]

One thing I noticed, the Pope's flange mount SO-239 isn't waterproofed, at least not the way I do it. First, a short 1/8" wide copper strip has greater surface area than a wire so greater conductance at VHF. Once soldered into place on the SO-239 center pin a healthy glob of silicone bathtub caulk over the whole insulator to seal that side, then black vinyl tape to seal the PL-259 side. I do it military style, starting an inch or so down the coax tight spiral wrap up to the flange stretching slightly as you go. Then a turn to cover the remaining open threads completely and spiral wrap back to the starting point. Then to finish it off a couple of slack turns so when the tight wrap contracts a bit they take up the tension and don't unwrap leaving tape flapping in the breeze. I've been doing it this way for decades and never had a leak or flapping tape. That Coax Seal black putty is crap, before long it weathers and cracks letting moisture in. I had to replace coax and hardware and reseal several of those messes that left others wondering what went wrong.

Yeah, keep the ground for safety, otherwise a bolt would take the path of least resistance, the coax into your shack. One caveat, often installers use aluminium "grounding wire" like the stuff Rat Shack used to sell. I remember removing a 6M ground plane from the house of an SK and found the aluminium had corroded almost all the way through and the metal was brittle as glass, it crumbled in my hands. If that's the case I'd replace it with 8ga bare solid copper used for grounding the neutral bus in an electrical service entrance panel. Just trot down to your local supply house and talk to the counter person, they'll fix you right up and supply any clamps you may need, bronze is best and all is up to code.

Don't sit under the apple tree when the sky is flashing
When the sky is flashing
When the sky is flashing
NO NO NO don't sit under the apple tree when the sky is flashing
Or it'll burn you to the bone

Sorry ladies, sometimes I just can't help myself.

[NQ6U]

As far at the waterproofing goes, I used an N connector on that antenna. They are intrinsically waterproof. I did add a blob of silicone to the rear of the female connector but it doesn't show up on the photo.

[K7SGJ]

One thing I noticed, the Pope's flange mount SO-239 isn't waterproofed, at least not the way I do it. First, a short 1/8" wide copper strip has greater surface area than a wire so greater conductance at VHF. Once soldered into place on the SO-239 center pin a healthy glob of silicone bathtub caulk over the whole insulator to seal that side, then black vinyl tape to seal the PL-259 side. I do it military style, starting an inch or so down the coax tight spiral wrap up to the flange stretching slightly as you go. Then a turn to cover the remaining open threads completely and spiral wrap back to the starting point. Then to finish it off a couple of slack turns so when the tight wrap contracts a bit they take up the tension and don't unwrap leaving tape flapping in the breeze. I've been doing it this way for decades and never had a leak or flapping tape. That Coax Seal black putty is crap, before long it weathers and cracks letting moisture in. I had to replace coax and hardware and reseal several of those messes that left others wondering what went wrong.

Yeah, keep the ground for safety, otherwise a bolt would take the path of least resistance, the coax into your shack. One caveat, often installers use aluminium "grounding wire" like the stuff Rat Shack used to sell. I remember removing a 6M ground plane from the house of an SK and found the aluminium had corroded almost all the way through and the metal was brittle as glass, it crumbled in my hands. If that's the case I'd replace it with 8ga bare solid copper used for grounding the neutral bus in an electrical service entrance panel. Just trot down to your local supply house and talk to the counter person, they'll fix you right up and supply any clamps you may need, bronze is best and all is up to code.

Don't sit under the apple tree when the sky is flashing
When the sky is flashing
When the sky is flashing
NO NO NO don't sit under the apple tree when the sky is flashing
Or it'll burn you to the bone

Sorry ladies, sometimes I just can't help myself.

Uhh, I think they were singing "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" in that snippet. But, then again, there is every possibility I could be full of shit.

[mw0uzo]

the Pope's flange

[kb2vxa]

Well, I DID say it's not waterproofed the way I do it. (;->)

Yup, the still is from Buck Privates (Abbot & Costello) and that was the performance of Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. I chose it because they look better in uniform, especially custom tailored uniforms like Eric Estrada in CHiPs. (;->) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qafnJ6mRbgk Notice that salute comes at the very end of the performance.

"But, then again, there is every possibility I could be full of shit."

We always knew you were full of something, now we know what it is. (;->)

[K9CCH]

Sometimes I feel like I'm naked and everyone can see me.... Or that I missed my round of medication and y'all are all laughing.


Bugle boy, Chips, Popes.....WHAT? LOL