[MRCA] Hackaday AS-2259 Antenna

[Gene Smar]

 Mike:
     The article you linked us to uses the full wire lengths of an original AS-2259 antenna which, as is pointed out, are not resonant in any Ham band.  The author uses loading coils to "lengthen" each wire, lowering its points of resonance into the 80M and 40 M Ham bands.  This seems like an unnecessary complication.
     I made a similar NVIS antenna system using those fiberglass camo support poles that can be found on nearly every surplus source these days.  I use 5 sections that gives me a central feedpoint height of about 19 FAGL.  The feed point is a PVC cap that slips over the top of the camo pole.  The cap includes four sets of stainless steel bolts, nuts, and washers drilled at 90 degree intervals around the periphery.  I connected the bolts together in two pairs of two and used crimp connectors to connect the coax braid and center conductor of a short jumper coax to each pair so the #14 insulated guy/antenna wires would be connected to opposite bolts when erected in the field.  I soldered heavy duty brass connectors to the ends of the antenna/guy wires and fasten them to the central cap with wing nuts.  

     The principal difference between my (and others') design is that my antenna/guy wires, made from common house wiring, are cut to length for each band.  In fact, I made inverted Vee wire pairs for 80, 60, 40 and 20 M.  I use two pairs at a time when the antenna is deployed.  The wires ended up being shorter than the dipole formula calculates, mainly, I suppose, due to the fact that the wires end up pretty close to the earth and are not elevated more than a few feet at the ends.  

     The loading coils, EMT, PVC elbow, etc. illustrated in the linked page are unnecessary for such a simple antenna system.  The final product will be heavy and it's difficult to transport ten-foot long EMT tubing.  If you're going to make your AS-2259 clone from scratch, consider using lighter, smaller components without the loading coils.
     Good luck.
73 deGene Smar  AD3F

     
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: B. Smith <smithab11 at comcast.net>
To: mrca at mailman.qth.net
Sent: Wed, Feb 15, 2023 8:23 pm
Subject: Re: [MRCA] Hackaday AS-2259 Antenna

I made some notes on the AS-2259 including matching and mounts.
Z
http://k4che.com/AS-2259%20Notes/AS-2259%20Page%201.htm

On 2/15/2023 7:54 PM, mstangelo at comcast.net wrote:
> I was looking at the Hackaday Site and found this project where someone constructed a version of the AS-2259 antenna:
>
> <https://hackaday.io/project/9032-near-vertical-incidence-skywave-antenna>
>
> Hmmm; I have some aluminum EMT tubing so I may add this project to the long list of projects that I will never finish.
>
> Mike N2MS
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