1. The tuning mechanism: Left—variable capacitor with a 1.5:1 built-in vernier reduction drive; Middle—a 10:1 vernier reduction drive; right—a crank knob to facilitate tuning. In combining these components, an actual 14:1 reduction in drive is achieved; i.e., 14 complete revolutions of the crank knob to fully mesh-unmesh the variable capacitor rotor plates, which is especially helpful in separating upper band stations.

2. A close up view of the 1.5:1 built-in vernier reduction drive. Note the eccentric position of the variable capacitor tuning shaft.

3. A close up view of the 10:1 vernier reduction drive.

4. The assembled tuning drive system. Note that both the variable capacitor as well as the 10:1 vernier drive need to both be attached to the pvc cap for rotational stability when tuning the completed antenna.

5. Side view of the attached variable capacitor-10:1 vernier drive-tuning knob mechanism. This completed component fits nicely into a 2” diameter pvc cap and needs to be positioned so that the pvc cap will slip over the end of a 2” diameter pvc pipe without interfering with the rotational motion generated by tuning the variable capacitor. A plastic butt plate is attached to the back end of the variable capacitor to attach to a wooden ferrite rod stablization bar.

6. Flat pvc caps (left) are much easier to work with for component mounting than curved varieties (right).

7. Flat pvc caps (left) are much easier to work with for component mounting than curved varieties (right).

8. The pvc cap-mounted tuning mechanism. Note the variable capacitor butt plate, the variable capacitor attachment to the pvc cap (two screws mated to a small pvc binding shaft) and the plastic 10:1 vernier drive attachment to the pvc cap using a green irregular shaped plastic template.

9. A close up view of the tuning mechanism attachment to the pvc cap.

10. The components ready for the final assembly. Top: 2 “ long pvc pipe housing; Middle: variable capacitor attached to ferrite support bar (wood; glued to small piece of wood attached to variable capacitor butt plate; Bottom: 19” 125 mu ferrite rod with center wrapped primary coil of 660/46 Litz wire. Note the hear shrink tubing along the lengths of the wire that will be soldered to the variable capacitor; this will protect the fragile Litz wire external insulation.

11. Close up view of the primary coil, secured and protected using tie downs and heat shrink tubing.

12. Close up view of the variable capacitor attachment to the wooden ferrite bar support.

13. An additional close up view of the variable capacitor mounting

14. The completed assembly, ready for mounting within the pvc pipe. Note the liberal use of wire tie-downs to prevent migration of the Litz wires, and also the foam padding between the butt end of the variable capacitor and the ferrite rod.

15. The crank knob, eccentrically-positioned due to the eccentric position of the variable capacitor drive shaft. A video of this antenna in use can be seen on YouTube; search under the term “ferrite rod antenna”.