[HCARC] Dale Gaudier's Class on 80 Meter Wideband Dipole Antenna

[Gary J - N5BAA]

Some time this spring Dale G (K4DG) is scheduled to teach a Hand’s On Antenna Construction Class on constructing his wide band 80 meter Dipole antenna.  I have seen this antenna and it uses a second wire suspended beneath the actual Dipole as a reflector/director or which ever.  In any case the second wire is suspended/spaced underneath the actual dipole legs on 4 inch long spacers (think homemade ladder line here).  Dale used 4 inch black plastic electric fence insulators, but says that I could use some of my leftover popsicle sticks from all of the sugar free popsicles I consume every summer.  Popsicle sticks would need to be dipped in melted paraffin to waterproof them so black plastic insulator tubes seemed much easier to use.  HOWEVER,  (there is always a “however” these days) these insulators which once were common in the Texas Hill country when cedar posts were used as the fence post of choice, are no longer common since metal fence posts have largely taken the place of cedar and there is no easy way to attach these tubes to metal fence posts.  Tractor Supply (TSC) had one box of 200 the other day and in the past year I was the second customer for one box in the total year.  A check of all the other TSC’s in the area indicated like levels of sale and inventories of either 0 or 1.  Dale indicated he got his ordered by Gibson’s but at a higher price than I paid (I paid $11.99 plus tax, no shipping).  That said,  TSC’s Mgr said he would be happy to order them for the class at the same price with no shipping – HOWEVER (there it goes again) their inventory point in WACO doesn’t stock them at all and he needs a minimum of 6 weeks lead time to get them in.  Since each antenna takes 125 of these “spreaders” at 1 foot intervals every 3 people in the class could split 2 boxes.  Oh Yeah, I forgot to tell you that they need some slots cut in each spreader before use so advance preparation would be best.  Dale has a jig that we can either use and/or reproduce for use.

It has been suggested that we build a number of these antennas (they are best for NVIS) and use them on Field Day to prove or disprove whether we can communicate locally on 80 meters to support Red Cross.  Sounds like a great idea to me ( I am partial and also in charge of Field Day).  Dr Jim suggested people could take them out to surrounding counties and use them to communicate back to Field Day HQ.

6 weeks lead time, plus time to prep the spreaders brings us to almost April so time is a wasting.  Roger up if you are interested in plastic spacers or start collecting popsicle sticks soon.  BTW, Daylight savings time (yippee) starts in 38 days.

Gary J
N5BAA
2014 Field Day Coordinator