I’m travelling at the moment but need a WARC band antenna for TTP’s Anti-Field Day event coming up this weekend. I have individual antennas that cover 30m and could cover the other bands with a tuner but I decided to go to the hardware store and see what I could come up with. With some speaker wire, zip ties, and WAGO connectors I was able to put together a nice linked dipole to cover 12, 17, and 30m.
This project was my first use of WAGO connectors. It was just happenstance that the local hardware store, Menard’s, had them. While familiar with them, I’ve never seem them in a store before. They probably aren’t the most durable solution but but they are small enough and convenient enough that I’m adding them to my radio possibles pouch for future improv solutions.
The cobra head and N9SAB nano BALUN are part of my normal portable radio kit so were already on hand to provide a feedpoint for this project. With the arborist throw weight and cordage from my EFHW kit I have a complete system ready for this weekend.
The whole project took about two hours to complete. It would have gone much quicker but I got cocky and decided to cut my elements right at 234/f after 12m ended up right on. It turns out 17 and 30m needed to be longer so those elements got cut twice….
Hopefully this provides inspiration for your own projects.
Padre
The Orderwire 