Our next antenna project: The Open Stub J Pole

Greetings!  Yesterday we penned a post covering a wide range of topics.  You can read it below this post.  One of the topics discussed putting a possible antenna above our roof.  Well, lo and behold, VVARA Stalwart Member Bob S. (WB6ODR) graciously stepped forward (electronically) to do a little online Elmering.  Bob sent an email saying:
"You talked on your web site, about needing a different antenna that might stand up to some weather.  May I suggest the OSJ (open stub j pole) dual band antenna from Arrow Antennas  http://www.arrowantennas.com/sub/jpole.html.  I made 3 of them and they are just great and sturdy.  I attached a .pdf of the home brew antenna.  I think Arrow only wants $39 or so for the antenna and it's almost not worth making yourself for that price.  Very sturdy and may hold up to whatever weather you subject it to."

The antenna  on the PDF to which Bob refers was created by Allen Lowe (N0IMW).  We filed the PDF on our Google Docs and you can click here to see it.

We swapped a couple of emails with Bob about the antenna.  The project calls for using 3/8th aluminum rod and therein lies a story.  Here is how we told the story to Bob:

"When I was assembling parts for that first home grown yagi, I was visiting Family down in Mesa in April,  I decided to prowl the scrap yards--it seems there are a LOT of scrap yards in Mesa.  Anyway, I found a 10-foot length of 1/4 inch aluminum for the yagi for $3.30 total.  Next to it was a bin of 3/8th 10-foot rods and I thought "what the heck," and bought one of them for $4.40.  Well, our truck only has a six foot bed so I took along a hack saw and randomly whacked away at the 3/8ths rod with no clue that I might ever need it for the project you sent along today.  By some miracle I whacked it off with only a few inches to spare for having the right length for this project.  Pure blind luck!!!!  Thought you'd enjoy that story."

Bob followed up with a cautionary tale, "Don't do like I did and start putting threads and assembly until you have studied the print.  I threaded the wrong piece, twice, it still works but the resonate frequency is a little off.  Like I said, it's a great antenna for a dual band and the mount is very versatile."

I told Bob I would post up here on the website about the project so I spent some time this morning before the net online researching the Open Stub J-Pole and found a lot of interesting and helpful material.  That's one of the great things about the World of HAM--amateur radio operators really enjoy helping other operators learn about their various projects.  I've never been part of a group of people who are so universally helpful.  It's awesome!

Here are two great high quality photos of the project prepared by Jeffrey Bell (N1BMX). You can click on the graphics to see a large version.  Note that Windows will resize the graphic to your screen and you will then need to click it again to see the full size version. Note also that the originals are over one meg each so they may take awhile if you wish to right click them and save them to your computer. (Additional notes are below the JPGs.)

You can read more about Jeffrey's project by visiting his website for this antenna:
http://www.n1bmx.com/blog/?p=97

Here are some other resources:

http://www.w4cll.com/ijpole.html
Chuck W4CLL

http://www.iw5edi.com/ham-radio/?j-pole-antennas,76
by Mike Walkington, VK1KCK

The Wikipedia on the J Pole
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J-pole_antenna

THANKS, Bob, for getting me back on track to do another antenna project.  I have all the right materials and maybe even the right attitude to set forth on this project.  I appreciate your Elmering me into doing this.  We will keep you posted as the project unfolds this spring.  Hopefully, it will be a relatively speedy project.

Have a great day & Many Cheers!  73, jp