[NLRS] Club Cheap Yagi Build Day Advice Needed

[Dr. Gerald N. Johnson]

3/16" brass rod 3 feet long can be found at some farm stores, good 
hardware stores, and hobby shops. Maybe even big box home stores, at 
Menard's in the hardware department next to steel and aluminum bars and 
rods, not the eletrrical department. The middle two places can carry K&S 
Engineering products. And the hobby shop brass (also available on line 
without the K&S numbers but the same sizes at McMaster-Carr, 
www.mcmaster.com) has tubing in 12" and 36" lengths with 1/64th wall in 
telescoping sizes. So 3/16" tubing is easily spliced with a bit of 5/32" 
tubing inside at the soldered splice. The tubing won't bend in the U 
shape though. I'm sure Kent lists the wire sizes and the wood sizes he 
has used.

3/16" ID brass tubing, 7/32" OD can extend 3/16" tubing or solid rod on 
the outer ends of the slements.

#10 copper wire will probably sag on horizontal elements not being 
hardened like brass tubing. Of course the director and reflector can be 
aluminum rod or tubing probably readily available at the sources 
mentioned by Donn. Copper wire can be work hardened by stretching it.

Varnish is important to longevity of wooden boom antennas. Bare brass 
and copper elements survive longer if painted with something like clear 
Krylon or Rustoleum or clear epoxy paint if it can be found.

73, Jerry, K0CQ

On 11/15/2016 7:14 PM, W. S. Mitchell wrote:
>
>
> Greetings,
>    I am organizing a WA5VJB Cheap Yagi build day for the Bloomington
> (MN) Amateur Radio Association, which will happen at some point in the
> next few months.  However, having never built these antennas before, I
> could use some advice.
>
> Assume for a moment that there are 8 participants, each of whom is
> interested in building a 3-element 2 m yagi.  Each antenna requires
> roughly 12' of conductor, with lengths of 37" (director), 41"
> (reflector), and 60" (driven).
>
> Am I correct to think that the best way to approach this is to use #10
> solid copper wire for the whole thing?  I've looked for welding rod,
> and it seems like it's more suited for 222 MHz and above (hard to find
>> 36" pieces).  From my searching, 1/8" or 3/16" copper tubing are a
> bit tricky to find as well, and is generally more expensive (and less
> robust in the field) than the (admittedly thinner) solid stuff.
>
> My hardware store has 1/2"x3/4" pine in 8' sections, which should be
> good for a few antennas.  I already have coax that can be used, and
> tracking down crimp-type connectors (BNC, PL-259, probably not N
> because the club members are unlikely to have any N gear) shouldn't be
> too difficult.
>
> Any advice or suggestions on sourcing materials would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>    Bill
> AE0EE
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