Airdorn
Member
Hey all.
Recently, the US Dept. of Defense brought a P25 system online near me, but I had had a hard time receiving it with the Scantenna. The control channel is 380.075.
So... I built a Yagi antenna! I dug around on the net and found some rough plans and theories. I drew it out and then went to Lowe's to get the equipment.
What I ended up buying is a 3 foot section of "channel configuration" aluminum... its basically a squared 'C' shape. I got a handful of nylon spacers, some grommets, and some 3/16 steel cylindrical rod.
I used a tiny welding rod soldered to one of the rods for the driven element. I attached it all together with an 8 foot section of RG-58, and used a tiny piece of it for the little RF choke thingy up near the driven element connection. I figured that was simpler than messing around with baluns and what not.
Anyway, the following pictures show the end result.
The first picture is just what my roof looked like BEFORE I made and installed the new home brew yagi. The yagi in the first picture is tuned to the 823 - 868 Mhz range and is attached to a nice little Channel Master rotator. The other little antenna on the first picture is a simple mag mount 800Mhz antenna I use for general purposes.
The Second and third pictures are of the home brew yagi I made. I sealed it all up with Silicone rubber. It turned out very well, IMHO.
The last picture is what my roof looks like now, after installing the new home brew Yagi to my Channel Master rotator.
Thanks all for a great site and all the help figuring out this radio stuff!
Recently, the US Dept. of Defense brought a P25 system online near me, but I had had a hard time receiving it with the Scantenna. The control channel is 380.075.
So... I built a Yagi antenna! I dug around on the net and found some rough plans and theories. I drew it out and then went to Lowe's to get the equipment.
What I ended up buying is a 3 foot section of "channel configuration" aluminum... its basically a squared 'C' shape. I got a handful of nylon spacers, some grommets, and some 3/16 steel cylindrical rod.
I used a tiny welding rod soldered to one of the rods for the driven element. I attached it all together with an 8 foot section of RG-58, and used a tiny piece of it for the little RF choke thingy up near the driven element connection. I figured that was simpler than messing around with baluns and what not.
Anyway, the following pictures show the end result.
The first picture is just what my roof looked like BEFORE I made and installed the new home brew yagi. The yagi in the first picture is tuned to the 823 - 868 Mhz range and is attached to a nice little Channel Master rotator. The other little antenna on the first picture is a simple mag mount 800Mhz antenna I use for general purposes.
The Second and third pictures are of the home brew yagi I made. I sealed it all up with Silicone rubber. It turned out very well, IMHO.
The last picture is what my roof looks like now, after installing the new home brew Yagi to my Channel Master rotator.
Thanks all for a great site and all the help figuring out this radio stuff!