Re: Home aerial for an ICOM AC-A5?

[jls]

"Avery Wagg" > wrote in message
...
> Hi folks,
>
> I will often use my handheld ICOM IC-A5 transceiver as an ordinary
aviation
> band scanner at home. However, the the small aerial on the unit doesn't do
> too much food whilst I sit in the basement. I'd like to build an outside
> aerial for it that is more effective.
>
> Does anyone have any tips on making up a home aeraial for an IC-A5 that I
> could implement. I do have an old TV aerial out back (with a 75 ohm cable
> attached).
>
> ..Avery Wagg

Give Jim Weir time to reply; I believe he sells a kit for an outside
aerial.

[john smith]

That and he has instructions for building one on his website.

jls wrote:
> Give Jim Weir time to reply; I believe he sells a kit for an outside
> aerial.

[Blueskies]

"Jerry J. Wass" > wrote in message ...
>
>
> john smith wrote:
>
>> That and he has instructions for building one on his website.
>>
>> jls wrote:
>> > Give Jim Weir time to reply; I believe he sells a kit for an outside
>> > aerial.
>
> That copper tube "J" Pole works nice, Be on lookout for 58 ohm co-ax
> cable. Not The TV stuff. it's 75 ohm.
>
>

I think that is 50 ohm coax...

[Jerry J. Wass]

john smith wrote:

> That and he has instructions for building one on his website.
>
> jls wrote:
> > Give Jim Weir time to reply; I believe he sells a kit for an outside
> > aerial.

That copper tube "J" Pole works nice, Be on lookout for 58 ohm co-ax
cable. Not The TV stuff. it's 75 ohm.

[GeorgeB]

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 14:17:27 -0800, "Jerry J. Wass"
> wrote:

>john smith wrote:
>
>> That and he has instructions for building one on his website.
>>
>> jls wrote:
>> > Give Jim Weir time to reply; I believe he sells a kit for an outside
>> > aerial.
>
>That copper tube "J" Pole works nice, Be on lookout for 58 ohm co-ax
>cable. Not The TV stuff. it's 75 ohm.

You may be thinking of RG58 ... thin 50 ohm coax.

J-pole antennas are very good, but not the best for aviation ,,, they
are fairly narrow band, and just the comm portion is around 15% wide
.... likely better off with somehting with better wideband
characteristics. A cheap vertical whip cut for band center would do
fine. Consider usinb larger caox, RG8 or similar, not for power
handling, but for loss. Find a local ham and have him help you come
up with a matching bridge and use low loss twin lead ...

[Jerry J. Wass]

You're ALMOST RIGHT !! I'm quite a bit WRONG-- the handbooks give the
characteristic impedance of RG8/U, RG58/U, as 53 ohms- common usage has
gone to 50 ohms ---probably because this "looks" right --a ratio of 2 to
3..--??

GeorgeB wrote:

> On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 14:17:27 -0800, "Jerry J. Wass"
> > wrote:
>
> >john smith wrote:
> >
> >> That and he has instructions for building one on his website.
> >>
> >> jls wrote:
> >> > Give Jim Weir time to reply; I believe he sells a kit for an outside
> >> > aerial.
> >
> >That copper tube "J" Pole works nice, Be on lookout for 58 ohm co-ax
> >cable. Not The TV stuff. it's 75 ohm.
>
> You may be thinking of RG58 ... thin 50 ohm coax.
>
> J-pole antennas are very good, but not the best for aviation ,,, they
> are fairly narrow band, and just the comm portion is around 15% wide
> ... likely better off with somehting with better wideband
> characteristics. A cheap vertical whip cut for band center would do
> fine. Consider usinb larger caox, RG8 or similar, not for power
> handling, but for loss. Find a local ham and have him help you come
> up with a matching bridge and use low loss twin lead ...

[Slip'er]

> J-pole antennas are very good, but not the best for aviation ,,, they
> are fairly narrow band, and just the comm portion is around 15% wide
> ... likely better off with somehting with better wideband
> characteristics.

I'll make some assumptions here. Since he says that he is using it for a
home base station, I suspect that he will most likely be listening to one
frequency most of the time. In this scenario, a J-pole is very good. He
can build it himself and tune if optimized for his frequency. RG-58 is the
type of coax you want to use. Also, buy or borrow a SWR bridge to optimize
the antenna.

If you don't want to use copper tubing, people also make tuned J-pole
antennas from twin lead antenna wire. I am making one to throw into my
survival gear bag tuned for 121.5.

A whip is good for walking around. Optimize length for your intended
frequency and mark so you know how far to extend it. If any section becomes
loose, replace the whip.

Slip'er

[Roger]

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 17:27:54 -0500, GeorgeB > wrote:

>On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 14:17:27 -0800, "Jerry J. Wass"
> wrote:
>
>>john smith wrote:
>>
>>> That and he has instructions for building one on his website.
>>>
>>> jls wrote:
>>> > Give Jim Weir time to reply; I believe he sells a kit for an outside
>>> > aerial.
>>
>>That copper tube "J" Pole works nice, Be on lookout for 58 ohm co-ax
>>cable. Not The TV stuff. it's 75 ohm.
>
>You may be thinking of RG58 ... thin 50 ohm coax.
>

Purchase an SO-239 chassis connector. Get one that has 4 small screw
holes (one in each corner. I've forgotten the length of a quarter
wave on 122.8, (I'd have to look it up some where around here)

Cut a piece of thin brass brazing rod, or brass, or copper to a
quarter wave length. Solder that into the chassis side of the SO239
connector. This is the radiator/antenna. Cut 4 more pieces of the
brass (or what ever) rod about 10% longer than the radiator. Solder
one end of each into one of the corner holes. Bend these out at about
45 degrees so the thing can stand on them. You now have a good
antenna. It will stand on a flat roof, or straddle the peak. Use a
bit of Silastic RTV (TM) to hold the feet to the roof.

I used to use one of these at work with over a 100 feet of RG-58 and
it worked fine.

Don't worry about loss in the RG-58 unless you have a run of a 100
feet or more. The height of the antenna will more than make up for
the loss and you are using a receiver that is probably far more
sensitive than the average aviation receiver.

You can go to RG-8X which is slightly larger than RG-58, but a lot
smaller than standard RG-8 and more flexible.

Put a PL259 (male connector) on the end of the coax that goes to the
antenna. Put what ever is required for the end that goes to the
radio. I use PL-259s on each end with an adapter to fit the radio.

Hook up each end and you are in business.

>J-pole antennas are very good, but not the best for aviation ,,, they
>are fairly narrow band, and just the comm portion is around 15% wide
>... likely better off with somehting with better wideband

I'm using a co-linear 144/440 MHz dual band antenna that isn't even
cut for the aviation frequencies and it works very well. The base is
at 25 feet and at the far end of about 120 feet of LMR-400 (RG-8
equivalent, but better) The reason for the large coax in this case is
the amount of power I run on those two bands.

I have another co-linear at 50 feet on the main tower with 144 and 440
beams at 130 feet (at the end of 228 feet of LMR-400. They also hear
ATC and aircraft just fine even though the signals are well outside
the range of the antennas.


Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
>characteristics. A cheap vertical whip cut for band center would do
>fine. Consider usinb larger caox, RG8 or similar, not for power
>handling, but for loss. Find a local ham and have him help you come
>up with a matching bridge and use low loss twin lead ...

[RST Engineering]

Just be aware that the PL259/SO239 series of connectors is not waterproof,
not even water resistant. Don't use them where rain and such can
contaminate the coax.

Jim



> Purchase an SO-239 chassis connector. Get one that has 4 small screw
> holes (one in each corner. I've forgotten the length of a quarter
> wave on 122.8, (I'd have to look it up some where around here)
>
> Put a PL259 (male connector) on the end of the coax that goes to the
> antenna. Put what ever is required for the end that goes to the
> radio. I use PL-259s on each end with an adapter to fit the radio.

[john smith]

Makes a good lightning rod, too!
(Be sure to ground it with a separate grounding wire to earth ground.)

Roger wrote:
> Cut a piece of thin brass brazing rod, or brass, or copper to a
> quarter wave length. Solder that into the chassis side of the SO239
> connector. This is the radiator/antenna. Cut 4 more pieces of the
> brass (or what ever) rod about 10% longer than the radiator. Solder
> one end of each into one of the corner holes. Bend these out at about
> 45 degrees so the thing can stand on them. You now have a good
> antenna. It will stand on a flat roof, or straddle the peak. Use a
> bit of Silastic RTV (TM) to hold the feet to the roof.

[Roger]

On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 09:36:07 -0800, "RST Engineering"
> wrote:

>Just be aware that the PL259/SO239 series of connectors is not waterproof,
>not even water resistant. Don't use them where rain and such can
>contaminate the coax.

That's why I use a lot of "Liquid Electrical tape". It works very
well. Two coats...Let one cure, then add the second. Coat both sides
of the SO-239 "AFTER connecting the PL-259"

You can also "flood", the PL259 with a silicon grease such as DC4
compound which was made to water proof spark plugs on B-17s and to
keep them from arcing over at altitude. Stuff works great, BUT
nothing will stick to where ever it touches.

I typically use "N" connectors, but they are expensive compared to the
UHF (pl-259/so-239) connectors. I have blown out a couple of N type
barrel connectors to the feed points on the 75 meter slopers. That
shouldn't be a problem on receive.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
>
>Jim
>
>
>
>> Purchase an SO-239 chassis connector. Get one that has 4 small screw
>> holes (one in each corner. I've forgotten the length of a quarter
>> wave on 122.8, (I'd have to look it up some where around here)
>>
>> Put a PL259 (male connector) on the end of the coax that goes to the
>> antenna. Put what ever is required for the end that goes to the
>> radio. I use PL-259s on each end with an adapter to fit the radio.
>

[Rich S.]

"RST Engineering" > wrote in message
...
> Just be aware that the PL259/SO239 series of connectors is not waterproof,
> not even water resistant. Don't use them where rain and such can
> contaminate the coax.

Amen to that! I had a RG-8 line dripping water on the back of my radio bench
once. Disconnected it from my rig and the damn thing zapped me from the
static charge buildup in the rain & wind. :(

Rich "I'm feeling much better now, Mom" S.

[Barnyard BOb -]

>Amen to that! I had a RG-8 line dripping water on the back of my radio bench
>once. Disconnected it from my rig and the damn thing zapped me from the
>static charge buildup in the rain & wind. :(
>
>Rich "I'm feeling much better now, Mom" S.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If your antenna is not at DC ground potential....
expect to get zapped under windy dry conditions.


Barnyard - gamma match - BOb

[Roger]

On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 19:53:20 -0600, Barnyard BOb -
> wrote:

>
>
>>Amen to that! I had a RG-8 line dripping water on the back of my radio bench
>>once. Disconnected it from my rig and the damn thing zapped me from the
>>static charge buildup in the rain & wind. :(
>>
>>Rich "I'm feeling much better now, Mom" S.
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>If your antenna is not at DC ground potential....
>expect to get zapped under windy dry conditions.

Amen! It can give you a real appreciation for "snow static" too.
(:-=))

I had my ham rig set up inside a mobile home while we were building
our new home over South of Breckenridge. (bout 38 years ago). When
not in use the coax was disconnected and put in a broom closet in the
kitchen. The other end of that coax tied to a quarter wave, 40 meter
vertical (33 feet tall).

One day it was snowing like crazy with very strong winds. I kept
hearing a loud popping sound and couldn't figure out what it was.
Investigation led me to that broom closet. On opening the door I was
greeted with some very bright blue arcs as the static built tot he
point where it'd flash over the PL-259. Thing is it wasn't just
flashing over, but arching out a half inch to an inch from the end of
the connector. It was doing that every 3 or 4 seconds.

I didn't take hold of it, but that spark was far fatter than any
ignition I've ever seen, be it conventional, or mag. I'll bet it sure
packed a kick! <:-)) I left it alone as I had no desire to find out
just how much energy was in that spark.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
>
>
>Barnyard - gamma match - BOb

[john smith]

That's what broom handles are for.

Roger wrote:
> I didn't take hold of it, but that spark was far fatter than any
> ignition I've ever seen, be it conventional, or mag. I'll bet it sure
> packed a kick! <:-)) I left it alone as I had no desire to find out
> just how much energy was in that spark.