DIY antenna ??

[friedthat]

hey all i was wondering how would i go about making an antenna to boost my signal a bit more than the ducky. for listening to trunked communication?
i noticed after disecting an old ducky that came with my uniden, there is a copper coiled around inside. sooo i was thinking if i took a coat hanger, coiled it around a wooden dowel or something and made 4 inches straight at the bottom ( to go into the existing ducky), voila, have a bit better reception by inserting the lower piece of the coiled coat hanger into the existing ducy that has the top cut off.. would that work? or is the straight piece from the coat hanger going down toching the existing ducky metal coil going to mess with the wave comming in? can any one briefly explain why or why not this would work? and any other stuff i might need to know , other than going too deep of the physics of sine waves. thanks
- why the coil? and does it make any difference how tight it is or the circumference?

 

[photovision]

Experimenting with antennas

is fun and won't hurt the radio if you are just recieving........but there is a good chance it won't increase the reception without a plan. The reason for the coil in the rubber duckie is to provide a reasonable amount of antenna in a shorter,flexible area. Just adding a random amount of wire to it will not help.... the antenna length is dependant on the frequency range you are trying to listen to. If you want a decent antenna that mounts to the radio,try the radio shack telescoping whip or a duckie designed for the band you listen to the most. The best set up would be to add an outdoor antenna.

 

[friedthat]

is fun and won't hurt the radio if you are just recieving........but there is a good chance it won't increase the reception without a plan. The reason for the coil in the rubber duckie is to provide a reasonable amount of antenna in a shorter,flexible area. Just adding a random amount of wire to it will not help.... the antenna length is dependant on the frequency range you are trying to listen to. If you want a decent antenna that mounts to the radio,try the radio shack telescoping whip or a duckie designed for the band you listen to the most. The best set up would be to add an outdoor antenna.

lol well i am not going to the extreme to add an outdoor, but i jsut want to listen to the trunked radio on the VHF .
soo that being said. if i want to make my own longer antenna able to recieve a bit more from further distances could a coiled copper wire do the trick? like what is the best spacing inbetween the steps? and how much should i use?
thanks

 

[jonny290]

those coils are a 'compromise' to fit more electrical length in less physical length. Best antennas are always straight wires (with a notable exception or two, but that's satellite and low-band stuff)

 

[Mischief810]

lol well i am not going to the extreme to add an outdoor, but i jsut want to listen to the trunked radio on the VHF .
soo that being said. if i want to make my own longer antenna able to recieve a bit more from further distances could a coiled copper wire do the trick? like what is the best spacing inbetween the steps? and how much should i use?
thanks

There's no "extreme" of adding an outdoor antenna. You can roll your own in one day and spend less money on it than you would spend on a trip to the movie theater.

Mash here for a thread on a center fed dipole antenna. This one will cost you less than a trip to Blockbuster and can be mounted inside.

Mash here for a thread on building an antenna that will impress the hell out of your neighbors and make them think you're an electronics whiz.

Mash here for a thread on a project I finished in one afternoon and spent less than $50 on. It also impressed the neighbors.

Don't forget the Antenna Wiki. All sorts of wierd and interesting antenna projects.

 

[LordJ]

My first indoor antenna was a simple wire job...Use it from a Haruteq book, worked great for me.you will need 5 lengths of wire (18 guage speaker wire is what I used) 2 x 1.8m / 1 x 1.25M / 1 x 65cm / 1 x 10cm. Forgive the bad graphic but it should give you an idea.
I mounted this on the wall with tacks. Mount the 3 wire element about 3cm below the long single one. Connect the feed line (verticles) to a bnc adapter and away you go..

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[friedthat]

My first indoor antenna was a simple wire job...Use it from a Haruteq book, worked great for me.you will need 5 lengths of wire (18 guage speaker wire is what I used) 2 x 1.8m / 1 x 1.25M / 1 x 65cm / 1 x 10cm. Forgive the bad graphic but it should give you an idea.
I mounted this on the wall with tacks. Mount the 3 wire element about 3cm below the long single one. Connect the feed line (verticles) to a bnc adapter and away you go..

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okay, i am jsut unclear on how far apart each wire is? like the 3 small vertical do i intertwin them , and do i connect them at the to to the low horizontal wire . basically, where is all the metal connections with the wires?
thanks also will this work better then the home made "off centre dipole" ?

 

[jonny290]

Strip all the wires at the 'common' end 1 inch, twist them all together. You may want to twist them in pairs, then in pairs of pairs, then together.

Just run them all roughly parallel, put a piece of electrical tape every few inches or where an element ends, wrapped around the whole bundle. Then hang it from the ceiling with a piece of string or something.

Strip one end of a 6 inch wire back 1", and strip the other end 1/2". Twist the long end around the twisted up common terminal of the antenna, and stick the short end into the center pin of the antenna jack on your scanner. See what ya pick up.

 

[LordJ]

Ya, i see now in the post that my graphic didn't space the way I actually typed it. For the 3 wire, I simply had one on either end and the middle one was evenly spaced between the two..Thanks to jonny290 for adding the extra info I neglected to add.