I’ve found the best aerial for MW DX to be a Beverage and over the years I have developed a simple construction method involving a few easily obtainable parts here in New Zealand and with a little ingenuity, alternative bits and pieces could be used.
Fig. 1 |
The picture below (fig.2) shows the basic set-up. A piece of 25mm inside-diameter galvanised pipe (fig.3), approximately 200 mm long, and with one end flattened over is hammered into the ground. The pipe needs a hole of 10-15mm drilled below the top to ease extraction from cloggy soils.
Then a 2.4 metre long 20mm wooden dowel is inserted in the pipe. The dowel is a bit like a broomstick, except longer and thinner… and they are untreated timber, yet do last quite some time out in the weather. An electric fence insulator is screwed into the top of the wooden dowel (fig.1). (There is a lot of parts intentioned for electric fence use which are very useful for Beverage-builders). The aerial wire is threaded through the eye. If extra height is required, then a 1.2m metal fencing stake (known as a ‘waratah’ down under) with a pipe welded on to it (fig.4). The stakes are placed 50 metres apart which is ideal for the 2.0mm hard-drawn single strand copper-coated steel wire I use. |
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