AE5YP 1 Portable NVIS Antenna

AE5YP 2 The Thought I want an antenna easy to: Transport Set up Use No Coils or Traps (1/2 wave length Dipole antenna) Easy to build No Tuner Required

AE5YP 3 Time for a trip to Lowes Four 10’ lengths of 1 1/2” PVC schedule 40 pipe Four 1 1/2” End caps Three 1 1/2” T Fittings Five 1 1/2” Coupling joints One 1 1/2’-1 1/4” Reducer One 3/4” PVC junction Two 1/2” plugs 3/32” ferrules and stops (rope section) Spool of 14 AWG (500’)/ more than I needed PVC Primer and Cement (comes in a kit packet) Small is plenty Coat Hooks

AE5YP 4 Stuff I had on hand Reciprocating Saw (hand saw works, it is just PVC) I take the easy way sometimes Power Drill and Bits Crimping Tools Rivet Gun Can of Orange Spray Paint (your choice and tastes may vary) Soldering equipment SO-239 Chassis Mount Screws/ Washers/ Nuts/ rivets RTV Rope Tent Stakes 1/2’ Pex (insulators) Zip Ties

AE5YP 5 Getting Started Cut the straight end of the reducer (about 1/4”) as it is too long Drill a 1/8” hole in each of the 1/2” caps Drill a hole for the SO-239 in the center of the Junction box

AE5YP 6 Assemble the Box Cement the Reducer to the Box Cement one of the 1 1/2” Couplers to the Reducer

AE5YP 7 The Ferrule & Stop

AE5YP 8 A Bit of Electrical Work I goofed and missed putting the wire an ferrules through the end caps before the end eyes were attached. The wire would have been longer as well. I suggest about 10” to make attaching the element easier. Should not have attached these yet. Stop should be here

AE5YP 9 More of the Box The hole for the SO-239 Screw holes drilled

AE5YP 10 More of the Box A bit of RTV and screw it in place with the Ground Side Jumper

AE5YP 11 More of the Box The End caps should have been in place for the previous step

AE5YP 12 Getting Started Cut 9 section of 1 1/2’ pipe to 34”/ Clean up the cut ends Cement one end cap on the end of 4 of the cut pieces Cement the remaining 4 couplers at one end of other 4 sections of pipe

AE5YP 13 The Top Section I put two sets of Coat hooks to store the Elements of the Dipole No coupler on this piece The hole is to run the Coax inside

AE5YP 14 The Base You will need to cut Two pieces of scrap about 2” to act as a coupler Cement the three 1 1/2” Tee pieces to look like this

AE5YP 15 Paint the Mast I taped the ends with the famous Blue Masking tape keeping the last 2 1/2” from getting paint on them I painted everything except the Junction Box with my Orange Spray Paint I should have covered the couplers to keep paint out (I still need to sand them clean)

AE5YP 16 The Mast Top The Duffle bag is 36” long One of the mast pieces should have been cut to 30” to fit into the bag because the Junction box makes it too tall I missed drilling a hole in one of the other mast sections to allow the Coax to exit

AE5YP 17 The Elements I cut two lengths for each Band with extra for fold back Put a crimp eye to attach to the Junction box jumper 60M 44’ + 2’ 40M 33.5’ + 2’ 20M 17’ + 2’

AE5YP 18 Insulators I cut Six insulators from some extra Pex I had on hand Drill a hole in each end big enough for the line and element wire These were painted when I painted the mast

AE5YP 19 Here it is waiting to assemble

AE5YP 20 The assistant Chores first Grandpa can not mow after we have the antenna in the yard

AE5YP 21 Here it is

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AE5YP 25 Need to add an exit hole here

AE5YP 26 Tuning We set up the elements to be staked at about 40’ from the mast Only the 40M and 20M were set and tuned It took about 1 hour to assemble and tune two bands Two weeks later on another visit I set the antenna up in 10 minutes no helper The helper on another visit added time, about 30 minutes

AE5YP 27 Results From Altus OK. Contacts in one Day (really just two hours) New Orleans Miami Portland Seattle Mexico City Vancouver The weird one Blackpool (England) 4/8 Report

AE5YP 28 Questions?? The assistants Christopher & Jack At the Fireman Challenge