The Yagi Project

Shown above is my "spin" on the backpacking Yagi shown in the diagram below and described on a very thorough webpage.  I am indebted to Paul Dryer (KD5IVP) for his awesome work in building the 2.1 ounce backpacking antenna.  I am also indebted to Don Butler (N4UJW) for finding the design for me.  Don runs the Ham Universe website.  (Click here to visit it.)  Don also is happy to serve as an online Elmer.  I emailed him asking for help to find a very lightweight Yagi design.  He sent several designs and I chose to work with this one.  When I received the .025 music wire I could see right away that it would be too flimsy for my needs.  My wife and I travel remote back country roads so we need a stout Yagi that can fit into our Suzuki Samurai to be able to transmit to distant repeaters.  I took the hunting arrow design and adapted it with PVC pipe and quarter inch aluminum rod.  I bought a 12 foot length of rod at a scrap yard in Mesa for $3.  The pipe and fitting cost $1.12.  My neighbor (N7NUU) ordered a length of RG174U coax online with two BNC connectors already attached on both ends.  I'm not sure what he paid for that cable and will find out soon.
Anyway, we split the cable as he plans to build the original arrow design since he's an ardent backpacker.  I have yet to solder the cable ends to the alligator clips.  The driven elements are out of alignment because I need to align their mounting holes with a drill press.  There's no way to use a hand held dril and get the holes perfectly plumb and square.  I used a metric 7 mm tap and die to thread the driven element rod ends and then screw them into the PVC fitting.  Since I am using a PVC "T" it is easy to align the elements with one another. I'm pretty sure the antenna will function a lot better once everything is better aligned and the cable soldered to the clips.  Well, that's about it for now--will add more soon.  Thanks to Capt. Bob K. (KØCKE ) for helping me check the antenna out today on the VVARA Mingus repeater.  Have a great day & 73, jp

Click here for the original hollow arrow design by Paul Dryer.  His construction diagram is shown below.