Catwalker

So here is my next project (tied to the antenna and balun)

 These are coil forms. 3D printed, about 8 Inches long. Going to make some loading coils to (hopefully) move my apartment antenna down to 40 meters. Time to calculate, wind and solder.

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Well, I put the antenna up, it appears (if my calculations are correct) that the resonant frequency is sitting around 18 Mhz... Given my preferred band is usually 40 meters, that means there is a problem. The autotuner was able to get the SWR down to about 1.5:1, but I'd like to have it come down from something other than infinity (well, OK, a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the picture) I can use it as is, maybe try 15 during the day, or even 20. We'll see.

So here are a couple of shots of the complete 4:1 balun, one from the top, the other from the bottom showing the so239 connector and silicone calking (which looks messy) to plug the wire holes for the ground connection to the connector.

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Here is the antenna, made out of 2 inch vacpipe and tees for a built-in central vacuum system, vertical arms are about 6 foot long.





















Reports when I finally load it up. I think I may have to add a couple of loading coils to get to 40 meters.

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The mounting bracket for the balun...
















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